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And then there were none.

At about the same time that Catholic was beating previously unbeaten Park far on the other side of town, Oldfields was doing the same to previously unbeaten Baltimore Lutheran, in Glencoe, on Friday night.

With Catholic’s 39-33 overtime win and Oldfields’ 43-38 win, there are no more unbeaten teams in the IAAM C-Conference basketball race.

In a league with increasingly evident parity, it just shows the wisdom of the age-old sports saying, “on any given day, any given team can beat another.”

Oldfields had pinned a big 38-35 upset over Park last year, but that was very early in the season. This year’s version was even more impressive, with Lutheran cruising along in the X Divison with a mark of 9-0.

With basically the same cast of characters on both teams, Lutheran won both meetings between the two last year, by 26 and 28 points, and then the Saints won the first meeting this season back in early December, by 26 points, 50-24.

But they don’t play them on paper, one of the great things about sports. You just never know when the lower-ranked team is going to play a great game, or when the higher-ranked team is going to have a sub-par outing – or when both will happen.

“The stars were aligned just right,” said Oldfields Head Coach Heather DeWees.  “We don’t get many wins here, so this really makes our season. It was our first win over Lutheran in at least four years. For a team like ours, this is what we grab on to. We’ve already surpassed last year (2-14) with three wins in the league, and still have games yet to play. Normally I’m the one who thinks we are going to win, and not the girls. But now they have more confidence and they are starting to believe, too.”

Good fortune for Oldfields and bad luck for Lutheran took place in the opening quarter, as Saint’s star guard Megahan Lepley picked up three quick fouls, and Coach Brent Johnson was forced to sit her on the bench for the rest of the first half. With Lepley out of the line-up, Oldfields was able to build a lead.

The hosts led by three to seven points for much of the half, until Lutheran made a late run. But sophomore guard Kristen Johnson got a key steal and fed senior Sarah Wall for a score, giving Oldfileds a 19-16 lead at the break.

Even with Lepley back on the floor in the second half, Oldfields was able to play with composure and protect the lead. DeWees’ squad led by as many as 10 in the third period. Lutheran chipped away, but did not capitalize on the Oldfields mistakes to get an extended run. It never materialized in the fourth quarter either, and a pair of late free throws by Lauren Roesch gave her team some breathing room at the end.

“Kate Roesch (SR) simply had an outstanding game. She had 10 points and I think 19 rebounds, her second double-double in a row. She was like a sweeper in the back, cleaning it up, going after every rebound,” noted De Wees. “And her sister, Lauren (SO) was 5-6 from the field, and had 14 points. Late in the game, her knee subluxed out of socket a bit, but we were able to pop it back in place, and she stayed in the game and hit two free throws. They were huge. We were only up by three at the time, and that gave us a five-point lead with one minute left.”

Johnson (five points and five steals) and Wall (nine points and deven steals) also had key contributions, said DeWees.

For Lutheran, senior guard Rachel Keshishian led all scorers with 17 points, while Lepley added eight in limited minutes. The Saints dropped to 9-1 in the C and 12-5 overall. They host Park on Monday in battle of first-place teams in the conference. They they travel to Beth Tfiloh on Wednesday, a team they barely beat on a shot at the buzzer last week.

Oldfields improved to 3-8 in the league and 5-9 overall. It travels to Beth Tfiloh on Monday and then hosts AACS on Wednesday and Key on Thursday, looking to add to that win total.

DeWees is hoping those stars are aligned just right – again.

Oldfields 43, Baltimore Lutheran 38
BL – Hamilton 3, Lepley 8, Keshishian 17, Hejirika 7, Kennedy 3. Totals 10 16-31 38.
O – L.Roesch 14, Johnson 5, Wall 9, Riemer 3, K. Roesch 10, Copeland 2. Totals 16 9-13 43.
Half: O, 19-16.