We have reached the final five in our top 10 best sport stories countdown for Washington in the 2019-2020 academic year and number five takes us to a thrilling stretch for the Demon girls basketball team.

Living on the edge was the theme for the Demons all winter long, as they would dig themselves an early hole and somehow find a way to crawl their way out. No period of time explained this better than the end of January when the Demons won four consecutive games by less than five points and trailed in the second half in everyone. Washington opened up the magical run with a 50-47 overtime victory over Mount Pleasant, had late game heroics in a 41-38 affair against Ottumwa, pulled a rabbit out of their hat on the road at Burlington 46-44, and roared back from 11 down in the fourth to down Mid-Prairie 45-41. Anna Nacos was lethal during this stretch averaging 19 points a game including a dagger three in the waning moments of the Ottumwa game.

Head Coach Shannon Rugg had some fun describing the madness. “I joke that this is why I’m bald. Almost everyone of our games has come down to a couple possessions and to our girls credit we come out of those more times than not. They get out there and they compete the entire 32 minutes. That is what basketball is all about.”

The Demons finished the season 12-10 and fourth in the Southeast Conference. Check back in tomorrow for number four on our countdown when we take a look at the wrestling season.