With a record-breaking season, the varsity girls’ basketball team advanced through the third round of area playoffs but fell to the Dekaney Wildcats on Tuesday, Feb. 21 with a score of 53-67.

The Lady Warriors dominated in the first round of playoffs, defeating the Anderson Trojans 56-40. Danielle Davalos ‘19 scored a total of 15 points during the game, and although the Warriors had twice as many shots as the Trojans, they only held a six-point lead after halftime. During the last quarter, the Warriors pulled ahead, with Davalos adding eight points to the board.

“I developed a better leadership role and did a better job in leading our team,” Davalos said. “I think we as a team also improved our defense a lot during playoffs.”

After successfully advancing to the second round of playoffs, the Lady Warriors displayed their strong half-court defense with a 46-30 win against the Klein Bearkats.The game proved to be a historic game for the program as the Lady Warriors set a new school record of 29 wins in a season. Allyah Beaty ‘18 contributed to the Lady Warriors’ lead with 11 points, while Madison Couch ‘17 and Kandyce Shepard ‘17 added rebounds to keep the team ahead.

“Klein had a really good point guard, so we had to shoot her down,” Shepard said. “Their posts worked hard as well, but I knew me and Madison Couch could outwork them so that went pretty well.”

The team played their third round game against the Dekaney Wildcats, who at the time were ranked fifth in the state. Though the Lady Warriors started strong in the first quarter, they ultimately fell to the Wildcats.

“We’ve played them for four years straight now and we’ve lost to them each time,” Shepard said. “Everytime we go into this game we have the mindset that we do need to beat them; they are a really tough team, actually one of the hardest we’ve ever played.”

The Lady Warriors made sure to change their defensive strategies to be most effective against their opponent.

“We practiced a lot of dealing with full court pressure, how to break it,” Davalos said. “Against teams like Dekaney we practiced a lot of zone defense because they’re not a shooting team they’re more of a driving team.”

Though falling short in the third round ended the Lady Warriors’ season, players reflected upon their experiences as a team as well as future prospects together.

“We’re a very tightly bonded team, more than we ever have been and I think that really helped with the chemistry and how we all played together,” Davalos said. “We’re definitely going to miss the seniors who are graduating, we’re going to have to learn to work as a team more like we did this year.”