The varsity girls’ basketball team dominated over the Stony Point Tigers in a home game on Tuesday, Jan. 10. After an especially close first quarter, the Lady Warriors were able to improve both offensively and defensively, ending with a score of 55-39.

Although Kandyce Shepard ‘17 won the tip-off, the Tigers still managed to put the first two points on the board. The Lady Warriors quickly retaliated, with Allyah Beaty ‘18 rebounding and sinking a three-pointer. Despite an excess of turnovers allowing the Tigers to gain the upperhand, the Warriors were still able to end the first quarter with a one-point lead of 14-13.

Incessant fouls from both sides and rushed plays by the Warriors marked the second quarter, though the Lady Warriors added points to their lead from fouls by the Tigers as well as by limiting turnovers. With three minutes 52 seconds remaining in the quarter, two-pointers were shot by Madison Couch ‘17 and McKenna Lindley ‘18 and the team left for halftime 26-22.

“In the first half I thought we were rushing plays, and we were in a hurry,” varsity coach Doug Davalos said. “We were playing hard but we were in a real hurry. The second half we calmed down a little, we still played hard and defensively we made it tough on their school.”

Coming back from halftime, the Lady Warriors displayed their energetic defense, with the majority of the Tigers’ points in the second half coming from fouls. In the first few seconds of the third quarter, Shepard was able to sink a two-pointer, followed by Davalos adding another two points with a layup. Meaghan Hendricks ‘18 scored a three-pointer, and Lindley added the last two points of the third quarter to the board, ending 43-28.

The Lady Warriors continued their assertive offense in the last quarter of the game, with effective communication between Couch and Marilyn Robinson ‘17 allowing Couch to add two points to the Warriors’ lead. A foul by the Tigers preceded by a three-pointer from Davalos led to Christina Maunder ‘17 to score the last point of the game. By improving their defense, the Lady Warriors were able to hold the Tigers under 40 points.

“It felt really awesome [to keep them under 40] because we’ve previously lost to them, it was a rough game, so I was glad to come out and fight and beat them,” Lindley said. “I definitely need to improve on rebounding, [but] my strengths were defense and being able to help people who were being pace guarded.”

Despite the tough first half, the Lady Warriors pulled through victorious. They will face the Pflugerville Panthers in their next home game on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m..