The WACO Warriors earned a pair of home basketball victories over Pekin Friday night. The WACO girls trailed 6-4 after a quarter of play but managed to grind their way to a 14-10 lead at halftime. The Warriors pushed their advantage out to eight points by the third quarter and held on from there for a 41-35 victory.

Senior Emma Wagler poured in a game-high 19 points to lead the way as WACO improves to 6-3 in the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference and 6-5 overall.

The Warrior boys turned a seven-point lead in the first quarter into a 32-14 advantage at the half and never looked back, going on to defeat Pekin 53-31. Hunter Hughes scored a game-high 18 points for WACO, while fellow senior Colton Leichty had 11 to power the Warriors to a 7-1 record in conference play and a 7-3 mark in total. Both WACO teams will next face New London Monday.