Trying to recapture their early-season success, on Friday Jan. 12, the varsity girls basketball team went up against their district rivals the Stony Point Tigers. Although the game was filled with energy on both sides of the court, and both teams fought hard, in the end Westwood couldn’t keep up with Stony Point, losing by 15 points, and dropping another game.

“I think we played really hard,” Caroline Dougherty ‘25 said, “and I’m really proud of everyone, we have nothing to lose and we just gave it our all. I’m really proud.”

The game started out on a high note, exactly how the Warriors intended with both teams hitting early buckets. The quarter remained consistent with both sides finding success. With 1:16 left in the first quarter Claire Lee ‘26 stole the ball, passing it to Isabella D’Alessandro ‘25 who hit a three point shot. The Warriors’ communication and chemistry shined through in the first quarter, with their trust at an all time high. Despite this, the first quarter ended with the Warriors trailing the Tigers 15-11.

“Our biggest strength is that we like each other on and off the court,” D’Alessandro. “ We lift each other up despite if there’s positives happening on the court or negatives. Overall we’re just a family.”

The second quarter started off as strong as the first with the Lady Warriors maintaining their defensive prowess and continuing to score. However, after the Tigers went on a bit of a run, stacking ten points on the Warriors 23-13, Westwood didn’t falter, with Lee rebounding the ball well. With eight seconds left, Emily Collins ‘24 made a three point shot closing the gap to a manageable six points, and taking the Warriors into halftime down 26-20.

“I’d say [the team’s biggest weakness] would also be communication, honestly,” Taylor Thiemer ‘25 said. “On offense and defense it’s completely different, I guess we forget about it, and it’s not something we think about.”

Despite the Warriors’ momentum heading into halftime the latter half of the game started off with a layup by Stony Point as Westwood’s defense started to slip. Offensively, the Warriors began to struggle as well with the Tigers stealing the ball multiple times, giving them multiple opportunities to widen the score. With five minutes left, the score sat an ever-widening 40-25 gap, as Westwood made a series of fumbled passes. By the end of the third quarter, Westwood managed to tighten their defense back up, locking Stony Point in a stalemate and keeping the score 40-25.

“We’ve been talking about effort a lot lately and they played really hard today,” Coach Kelli Payton said. “That’s one thing I think we improved on, and all I ever ask of them is to give effort and they played really really hard. Obviously we have some mental lapses and decision making issues we need to fix but I’m really proud of their effort.”

Although down big, the Warriors still looked to make a comeback, and tensions were high as Stony Point started the scoring with a basket. Westwood quickly made a basket of their own and then was promptly fouled by Stony Point. With a three-point-play the Warriors finally found some more momentum just as they had to close the half. However, it didn’t last long as with just minutes left, Stony Point made multiple buckets running up the score to 50-33. Although giving their best efforts, the Warriors were never able to catch up, and with time running out, all they could do was try to close the gap, and in the end the Warriors fell 57-42, for another double digit loss.

“It all starts in practice,” D’Alessandro said. “Regardless of our record right now we have to just keep pushing through, we have to just remember what our goal is, and that’s just not only to get better[and] have fun, but also just to grow in basketball.”

The Warriors will next be heading to Manor to face off against the Manor Mustangs on Tuesday Jan. 16 at 7.00 pm.