On Tuesday, Nov. 29 varsity basketball played against their Austin-area foes, beating the Pflugerville Panthers 48-35. Throughout the entire game, Westwood played consistent strong defense against Pflugerville holding them to just 35 points. Offensively, Westwood was granted multiple free throw opportunities due to repeated fouls from the Panthers, contributing to their lead.

To start the game the Lady warriors were greeted with energetic cheers from the crowd, however, the Warrior defense faltered a little with Pflugerville making early shots, and grabbing the lead, but Westwood quickly recovered. Taylor Thiemer ‘25 made a three point shot, earning many excited cheers from the crowd. Despite the rough start, Westwood stayed strong through the first period, ending it in a 17-6 lead.

“[We did] very good,” Thiemer said. “We drove to the basket a lot more and definitely communicated and overall just improved a lot [from] the past and [I’m] very proud.”

The Lady Warriors carried their momentum into the second period, however, their defense let up a bit, allowing Pflugerville to gain more points, closing Westwood’s initial 11 point lead to an eight point lead. The Lady Warriors went into halftime with the score at 24-16, ready for their halftime team talk.

“Defensively, we just need [to improve on] rebounds,” Thiemer said. “But that’s a lot of teams because it’s just something you don’t think about and hopefully it just comes naturally as we move on forward.”

Westwood came out of halftime greeted by young fans cheering them on, high fiving them on the way back onto the court. Being from middle and elementary schools in the area, and being a part of a Big Sis, Little Sis program, the kids came out to support the Lady Warriors as the Warriors have been doing to get more young girls into the sports community.

The Lady Warriors emerged determined to correct their mistakes of the first half, consistently scoring and guarding the ball. In the first minutes of the third period, Emily Collins ‘24 scored two three point shots, followed by Thiemer making another three point shot. Westwood maintained their strong defense, but in the last 30 seconds of the third period, Pflugerville stole the ball and drove down the court, but missed the shot. The third period ended with the score at 32-26, with both teams determined to dominate the fourth period.

“At the beginning of the season we weren’t very intense on defense,” Collins said, “but I think we’ve really gotten better like ball pressure wise and probably boxing out and rebounding as well.”

The Lady Warrior maintained their strong lead in the fourth period, scoring in the first few minutes. As Pflugerville began to gain points, Theimer made another three point shot, killing the Panthers’ momentum, and bringing the score to 39-34. For the rest of the game the Lady Warriors were able to bring up the score by making multiple free throws.Westwood maintained their good communication and finished strong, beating Pflugerville 48-35.

“I feel like we put a lot of hard work and it really shows on the court,” Captain Bella D’Alessandro ‘25 said. “Everyone hustles, and I felt like we’ve done a really good job of building chemistry together, so I think that’s something that we’ve improved on.”

The Lady Warriors will be heading to a tournament in Georgetown on Nov. 30 taking on teams from all over the state.