By JORDON SEMIEN/For the Reporter

BIRMINGHAM — Despite a competitive and faced paced first half, the Oak Mountain girls basketball team couldn’t keep pace with Spain Park’s barrage from deep, losing 58-38.

The game opened with Spain Park winning the tip, then immediately being called for an over-and-back violation, giving Oak Mountain the first possession of the night. Senior center Allie Allers opened the scoring with on a give and go with junior Christian McGowan to set up a layup in the lane.

The pace of the game picked up as fast break try was matched by fast break try, and foul matched by foul as both teams battled for the lead. The Jags opened the second quarter with a 6-1 run backed by two made free throws from Victoria Baldwin and a Christen Craig layup in traffic before Oak Mountain called for a timeout.

An already tight contest got even more exciting before the first half, as Spain Park’s Jemaiya Lee drew a foul with .5 seconds left on the clock. She would go on to hit both free throws, leaving Oak Mountain with a slim 20-18 lead at halftime.

The fast pace of the first half gave way to a more physical style as Spain Park looked to slow down the Eagles and get to the line. The teams exchanged foul for foul, shooting a combined 15 shots from the charity stripe.

The referees got an ear full from the home crowd during the third period as D’Miyah Foster’s block on Spain Park’s Victoria Baldwin was called a foul. In pleading her case, Foster was then hit with a technical foul, resulting in four free throws for Baldwin and the possession arrow for the Jags. To add to the early quarter damage, Baldwin’s number was called again on the proceeding inbounds play, this time hitting a big three for a one player seven point run for Spain Park.

The fourth period opened with a five to nothing run for the Jags as they began putting the Eagles away, despite a furious attack from the Eagles. Oak Mountain’s McGowan and Kaitlin West launched 3-pointer after 3-pointer, but it wasn’t enough as Spain park would win the region match up 58-38.

After the game, head coach George Minoso said his message to on his squad was to treat this game as a learning experience.

“Well I think it’s just the same thing for us every time,” he said. “We don’t really change what we do and when we do it and how we do it. We go back and work on our fundamentals. We don’t try to put anything new and magical in. We just want go and use what has been successful for us this year.”