Moving on is exactly what the WACO girls’ basketball program is doing after opening the class 1A regionals on Thursday and picking up a 40-36 victory at Wapello.

Despite the close final score, the road Warriors controlled most of the contest leading 10-8 after one, 22-17 at half, and 30-22 after three. The Arrows (10-11) hit some shots in the final period to draw closer, but could never get over the hump in the first round bout. All 40 of WACO’s points came from three players with Ellah Kissell dropping 21 points, Katie Leichty had 10, and Grace Coble had the other nine. Warrior Head Coach Lisa Graber was pleased with the focus from the start. “Right from the get go I could tell we were ready to play. We were really aggressive and we were there to play hard and win a ballgame. I was really proud of our girls and their effort in this one.”

WACO improves to 10-12 and they will travel to No. 7 Burlington Notre Dame (20-0) for the quarterfinals on Tuesday.