OSCODA - Jan. 24, 2008 - Oscoda stayed close to Whittemore-Prescott for half of Thursday's North East Michigan Conference girls basketball game, but the Cardinals, behind a career-high 31 points from Julie Janish, pulled away in the second half for a 71-40 victory.

"As a team we didn't play very well in the first half," said W-P coach Barb Janish. "In the second half we picked up the intensity and got the job done."

W-P led 17-7 after one quarter, but the Owls trimmed that to 25-19 at the half.

"Overall we played pretty well," said Oscoda coach Chris Manick. "We were down 10 early and pulled to within six. We played a solid game and played solid defensively tonight, but we had no answers for Julie Janish."

Janish had 12 points at halftime, but scored 13 in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers, as the Cards pulled away. Sharesse King scored 13 of her 18 in the fourth quarter.

"Whittemore is a very good basketball team and they are extremely well-coached," Manick said. "We just did not have the firepower to keep up with them tonight."

Heather Spenceley scored 10 points, Abby Samotis added eight and Krystin Inman and Heather Patterson each had seven.

"Krystin and Heather Spenceley had strong games," Manick said.

Janish's 31 points included five treys and a perfect (4-of-4) night at the free throw line. She also had six assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

King had 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Cory Durham added seven rebounds to go with six points.

The Owls (2-12, 0-8 NEMC) plays at Hale on Monday, while W-P (10-3, 5-3) faces a key week in which they play Standish Sterling on Tuesday and John Glenn on Thursday in games that could eliminate one or all of the above teams from conference title contention.