The WACO Warriors started their girls’ basketball postseason journey with a convincing 69-31 victory over the Keota Eagles last night in the first round of the Class 1A Region 8 tournament. Fourth-seeded WACO raced out to a 16-2 lead at the end of the first quarter and never slowed down, leading by 18 points at halftime and pushing the advantage to 30 by the third period.

Warriors senior Ellah Kissell continued her high-scoring ways, putting up 14 points in each half for a game-high 28. Senior Grace Coble added 12 points, while senior guard Natalie West had a season-high nine points to help WACO improve to 18-4. Despite three second-half three-pointers and 13 points from Eagle sophomore Grace Conger, number-thirteen-seed Keota’s season comes to an end with a record of 7-15. Meanwhile, next up for WACO is a home date with Burlington Notre Dame in the Region 8 quarterfinals Tuesday evening.