WACO basketball teams fall to Pekin

BY ANDY KRUTSINGER

Mt. Pleasant News

PACKWOOD ? The WACO basketball teams are off to winter break after one final doubleheader in 2015 on Tuesday night.

The Warriors faced off with two talented Pekin squads, which were on fire all night long. The Panthers took the girls? game, 66-14, and the boys? game, 61-27.

The WACO girls scored six points or less against a fantastic Panther defense in each period, as Pekin took a 46-10 lead into halftime and continued to pull away in the second half.

The loss snapped the Warriors? three-game winning streak, but the WACO girls will go into the break at 5-5, an impressive feat for a team that coach Shannon Rugg calls one of the youngest in the state.

In the boys? game, Jackson Gerot scored nine points off the bench on 3-3 shooting to lead the Warriors, but a strong Panther team scored in double digits in each quarter, and kept WACO from ever reaching 10 in a period.

Duncan Pickard went 2-6 in the boys? loss, and 2-2 from the line to finish with six points. Gabe Black and Bryce Achen each scored four points and co-led the team with seven rebounds each. Jackson Roth scored three points, and Justyn Chalupa had two.

The WACO boys moved to 2-7 with the loss, and have lost their last four, but do have wins against Louisa-Muscatine and Holy Trinity this season. Pickard, with 12.3 points-per-game, and Roth, with 12.1 points-per-game, lead the team in scoring heading into the break.