It was a clean sweep for the WACO Warrior girls and boys basketball teams Friday night in Wayland, as both squads found ways to defeat their opponent Columbus in the Area Game of the Week.
First, it was the girls that took center stage, and things took more than four quarters of play to decide who would come out on top. Neither team held an advantage after the first frame, and WACO managed to nose in front by two at halftime. The Warriors would net two more points over the Wildcats in the third. However, Columbus proved they would not go down without a fight, and rallied to take a slim lead in the fourth before WACO found a way to answer to tie the game at 46 to force OT. WACO’s Madelyn Farmer and Ella Huisenga would score on two buckets for the Warriors, but the ‘Cats had the answer with Frannie Sosa. The action would still be tied after the extra four minutes, but in the second overtime, WACO would not be denied as they eked out a slim 58-57 double overtime victory that knocked the Wildcats from the unbeaten ranks of the SEISC.
Unofficially, WACO outrebounded Columbus 48-33, but lost turnovers by four. Ella Huisenga was the leading WACO scorer with 26 points, while Columbus was led by Ariana Vergara’s 15.
After the game, WACO senior Ella Huisenga joined KCII Sports as the Washington County Hospital and Clinics Player of the Game to recap her team’s monumental victory over the ‘Cats. “Over break we focused a lot on their driving. They do that a lot in games, so of course, that’s what we focused on in practice. We had each other drive at each other. We’ve worked on closing off the drive, and I think we executed that very well in the game,” Huisenga said. “Beforehand, my teammates and I got each other fired up and we put it away!”
WACO Head Coach Lisa Graber also spoke with KCII Sports about what led to her team’s victory on their home floor. “We had two games before Christmas that were pretty tough, and we pulled those off. I think that offered some confidence going in. I think we’re playing well together and we have good chemistry, and I think that carried into tonight’s game,” Graber said.
The good vibes kept flowing for the Warriors on Bob Hilmer Court in the boys game, with WACO coming out on top of Columbus 66-44. WACO jumped out to a three-point lead after one, and grew that lead to four by halftime. Out of the half, the Warriors would continue their flurry of points, including a Christian Stacy three-point basket to make it 47-36 after three. WACO put the game away in the fourth with a 19-18 run.
Unofficially, WACO outrebounded Columbus 39-27, and won the turnover battle 16-23. Stacy led the Warriors with 17, followed by 16 from sophomore Holden Hughes. Columbus was led by Juan Chairez’s 15. Stacy joined KCII Sports postgame following the victory to talk about his chemistry with teammate Isaac Egli. “Me and Isaac get into the gym a lot every weekend. We’re always here hooping together. We’re always doing stuff. We’re always getting workouts in,” Stacy said.
WACO Head Coach Chayse Roth also joined KCII Sports on the postgame show to recap the win over the Wildcats. “They [Columbus] got it down to that 10-12 point lead for us late in the third quarter. Then in the fourth quarter, we just kept hounding them, kept at it, kept pressing, and got those turnovers and those easy baskets. Once we started dishing the ball off and finding our teammates, that’s when the ball really started dropping in the bucket,” Roth said.
With their wins, the WACO boys and girls are now 6-1 and 5-3 overall respectively ahead of a matchup with Winfield-Mt. Union today. The Columbus girls and boys drop to 9-2 and 4-6 overall respectively ahead of a Tuesday night matchup at home against Louisa-Muscatine. The Area Game of the Week heads to the Tree House in Lone Tree today for a matchup between Hillcrest Academy and the home Lions.