EGELSTON TWP – It’s only Jan. 31, and the Oakridge girls basketball team has 11 wins after defeating Shelby 41-26 on Tuesday night.

That’s three more victories than the Eagles had last year, or the year before.

“It’s a good building block,” Oakridge head coach Morgan Giddings said about her team’s rapid improvement this season. “The girls are buying in really well and it kind of started last year. We have a lot of returning girls I’ve had for a couple years and we’re building on it.

“To have 11 wins already is phenomenal, but I have a feeling we have more in us and I’m looking forward to that.”

The win for Oakridge comes after a narrow two-point road loss to Ludington in a key conference game last Friday. The disappointment of that defeat did not keep the Eagles from bouncing back against Shelby, and Giddings knows that’s a good sign.

“I’m pretty proud of them,” the coach said. “It’s really important to bounce back after games like that. They could’ve gotten down on themselves, but we had energy from the start tonight and were ready to play.”

Oakridge wasted no time showing the ability to score, jumping out to a 14-6 lead after one quarter with four different players putting up points.

Kaelinn Jozsa led the Eagles with six points on two three-pointers in the opening quarter.

“When she shoots, it opens up a lot of options,” Coach Giddings said about the junior. “It’s awesome to have her out there on the line able to hit those shots. She was hot today.”

Both teams scored eight points in the second quarter to give Oakridge a 22-14 lead at the halftime break.

Jozsa and Anna Lundquist had four points in the third quarter as Oakridge extended the lead to 30-19

In the fourth quarter, Lundquist had six points to help Oakridge outscore Shelby 11-7 and cruise to the victory.

Lundquist led all scorers with 16 points while Jozsa finished with 10.

Shelby was led by Biloxi Lee with 12 points.

Oakridge is now 11-4 overall and 5-3 in the West Michigan Conference Lakes Division. The Eagles will travel to play Fremont on Thursday.

Shelby is now 7-9 overall and 4-4 in the West Michigan Conference Rivers Division. The Tigers will visit North Muskegon on Thursday.