Two nights, two completely different efforts … but the same outcome, as Escalon’s varsity Lady Cougars fell two times on the basketball court to Oakdale.

The Valley Oak League games saw Escalon travel to Oakdale for a Thursday night, May 13 contest and then host the Lady Mustangs the next night, May 14. Both went in the loss column for Escalon, playing in the tough Valley Oak League this season.

“We lost 54-19 on Thursday; the only positive was that everyone got a bunch of minutes,” said head coach Joseph Dalpogetti. “It was nice to see the underclassmen get varsity minutes and that second unit played their hearts out against a superior opponent.”

Clare McPherrin hit a pair of treys on the night to lead the girls in scoring with six points.

Friday night, in a hard fought battle that saw bodies flying all over the court, Escalon hosted Oakdale and looked like a very different team than the one that took the floor the previous night.

“We rose to the occasion and played Oakdale much better,” Dalpogetti explained. “We lost 45-32, but it was only a six-point game at one point in the fourth. The effort was night and day from Thursday.”

Brooke Campbell led the scoring for Escalon with nine points.

Oakdale brought a fast paced physical game and harassed the Lady Cougars with a full court press for most of the night. That, at times, led to some frenetic play, and the teams kept up the intensity for all four quarters.

Though it ultimately went in the books as a loss, Dalpogetti was happy to see the girls respond after the lopsided loss on Thursday, playing with some pride and determination on Friday.

This week, the girls will be in Ripon for a game on Thursday, then host Ripon and have their Senior Night on Friday, May 21.