Keota basketball teams split wins at home Saturday

The WACO Warriors battled it out on the basketball court Saturday, Dec. 10, when they traveled to Keota to face the Eagles.

The girls were victorious in their quest, coming away with a 46-31 win, while the boys didn?t fare as well as they returned home with a 37-60 loss.

Both girls? teams started off with a quiet first quarter as Keota would get the first point in the game from a free throw before WACO would take control and get on the board with a Clara Schmitz 2-pointer.

Kiana Miller drew a foul and would score one from the line. After Keota?s Raigan Sprouse would score a bucket from outside the arc, Miller responded with a 2-pointer followed by her own 3-point shot at the end of the quarter giving the Warriors the lead after one.

Both teams would go back and forth in the second responding back to each other?s scoring adding 10 points each keeping the lead in WACO?s favor.

WACO would only allow Keota to score seven points in the third while the Warriors scored nine which included two free throws from both Kasey Sutton and Halle Kissell.

The fourth quarter was dominated by WACO as they put up 16 points to Keota?s 10 to take the win.

The team scored from the charity stripe nine different times in the game and coach Shannon Rugg says that always helps. ?We were being aggressive and we have been working on that in getting the ball through the net.

?We were that way last night in the first half against Burlington-Notre Dame and it took us a while to get that tonight. But definitely, if you can score from the free-throw line, it definitely helps with the outcome.?

The win gives the girls some momentum going into their game at Van Buren tonight.

?We needed the win,? Rugg says. ?We?ve been getting better each game. Hopefully we will continue to play well and keep ourselves in the game in the second half where we?ve been struggling.

?Hopefully tonight gets us going. We played a better second half than we did in the first. Usually it?s the other way around. Hopefully we can use that to springboard us into this week as it?s going to be a tough one.?

Playing a better second half is one of the keys to getting the win. ?With us, we?ve been playing really good first halves. I told the girls at halftime that we didn?t play well the first part, so that means we are going to play well in the second half so hopefully we can build off of that and see what happens.?

The boys weren?t as successful as the girls on the court as they would get a loss. WACO would only score nine points in the first frame while Keota would take the lead at the buzzer with a Hunter Wilson three-point shot.

It was all Keota in the second quarter as the only points for the Warriors came from a two-pointer from Beau Beckler. Keota would add 28 points to pull away with the lead at the half. ?Our defensive pressure was really good in the second quarter,? said Keota coach Dan Stout.

Playing that well isn?t easy. ?The boys had a hard time handling it and again we knocked down some shots,? Stout said.

Keota would continue the scoring after the break as they scored another 11 to WACO?s two with just under three minutes left in the third to get a running clock for the rest of the game.

WACO would work on their response with scoring another seven, but Keota would only allow those seven as they would score eight to have a 58-22 lead going into the final frame.

WACO took control of the ball in the fourth by scoring 15 points, but it was not enough even with Keota scoring another two points to hand the Warriors the loss.

Both Keota teams play at English Valleys tonight beginning at 6 p.m.