The varsity girls’ basketball faced off against the Cedar Ridge Raiders on Tuesday, Dec. 3 and emerged victorious in an intense nail-biter game on Faculty Night. The Lady Warriors bounced back from a troubling first half and managed to pull ahead of the Raiders in a 55-50 win.

The first half started off with the Raiders taking the lead after two two-pointers and a free throw. Despite the Raiders’ early lead, the Lady Warriors were determined to catch up and guard Annalise Galliguez ‘20 scored the first basket, a two pointer. The Raiders countered with several shots of their own, but the Lady Warriors came back with a two-pointer from center Ginna Grant ‘21, followed by another by power forward Kooper Giles ‘20. Despite a three-pointer in the last few seconds of the quarter by Galliguez, the Warriors were down 16-9 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Warriors started off the second quarter strong with a two-pointer from power forward Desi Davalos ‘22 and two free throws from guard Anisha Chintala ‘21, but the Warriors still could not pull ahead of the Raiders despite a two-pointer from Chintala and two free throws from Davalos. A two-pointer from Davalos closed the first half of the game with the Raiders’ lead 26-20.

“I think we really brought ourselves back after half-time,” Davalos said. “Our talk in the locker room about having teamwork and working together as a team really brought us back because we started picking up the intensity and our defense.”

A three-pointer from Davalos kicked off the third quarter as the Lady Warriors were determined to turn the game around. The Raiders scored a three-pointer, but the Warriors caught up with two-pointers from Giles and Chintala. A three-pointer from Galliguez let the Warriors take the lead for the first time in the game, but the Raiders came back with a three-pointer. A two-pointer from Davalos brought the score to a tie. Chintala kept the score tied after a two-pointer of her own after another from the Raiders, and the third quarter ended in the Warriors’ favor 38-37 after two two-pointers made by Davalos and Grant. Galliguez made a three-pointer to start off the final quarter, followed by several free throws by Galliguez and Davalos. Guard Peyton Halley ‘21 helped to secure a rhythm for the Warriors while making several two-pointers which left the Raiders behind. They attempted to make a comeback with a two-pointer, but were shut down by two free throws from Galliguez and a two-pointer from Davalos. With little time remaining, the Raiders desperately tried to catch up with a two-pointer, but the Warriors won with the final score of 55-50.

The Lady Warriors will take on the Hendrickson Hawks on Tuesday, Dec. 10.