Giving it their all, freshman B boys basketball rallied against the Round Rock Dragons during a tight game on Friday, Feb. 6. Staying neck and neck throughout the duration of the game, it all came down to the final minutes when the Warriors lost the lead and failed to get it back. The final score of the game was 47-42.

The game opened quickly with both teams scoring right away. The Warriors solidified their movement on offense but struggled to find a defensive rhythm as the game began. Quick paced passes and a confusing offense led the Warriors to concede multiple back-to-back points, with Clayton Steinheider scoring off of various breakaways. The Dragons quickly caught on to the Warriors offensive strategy and began to read their passes to steal the ball and gain possession. This smart defensive read allowed the Dragons to close the first quarter holding the lead 18-11.

“I think if we would have come out faster and started the game with a bigger lead then we would have had a better chance at winning,” Steinhieder said. “We were also up at the start but didn’t have a big enough lead so they just came back.”

After fueling up and getting ready for the second quarter, the Warriors decided to turn it up, closing in on the  lead the Dragons held at the end of the first quarter. Continuing this aggressive play style, the Warriors also brought the intensity on the defensive end,  forcing the Dragons to miss multiple three-point shots and lose the ball on more than one turn over. Despite this the Warriors were still unable to create a substantial lead for themselves, causing them to trail 24-23 going into halftime.

“As a team I think one of the biggest struggles we had overall was getting back on defense after a turnover,” Steinheider said. “ Our transition defense was a large reason for most of the points they scored on us.”

Although the Warriors were able to gain a bout of momentum during the second quarter, the points they had worked hard for had been passed up by the Dragons yet again. Falling further and further behind, the Warriors lost energy allowing the Dragons to extend their lead to over 10 points.  The third quarter proved to be uneventful for the Warriors as the Dragons pulled further and further away, eventually closing the quarter 40-30 Round Rock.

“The main thing that led to our loss besides our poor transitioning was the size of the other team, because they weren’t the best ball handlers or shooters but they had us beat in size,” Robert Castaneda ‘29 said.

Coming to the final quarter, Westwood was looking to close this game out strong but nonetheless, Round Rock felt the same. Both teams started scoring back to back baskets and causing turnovers left and right but Westwood was still slowly closing the lead. Dropping it from ten to seven to five where the game finally ended with a score of 47-42 Round Rock. Despite Westwood’s dire efforts to comeback they were unable to close the large lead made by Round Rock.

“If anything, one thing I would have done differently was pass more, because I felt like I could have been able to give my teammates opportunities to shoot but held the ball instead a couple times,” Castaneda said.

The freshman boys B will compete during their last home game against Vandegrift on Friday, Feb, 13.