WACO comeback falls short in Mediapolis

MEDIAPOLIS - The WACO basketball team that walked out of the halftime locker room could have beaten Mediapolis on Monday night, but the Warrior girls dug themselves too much of a hole in the first 16 minutes.

After getting more than doubled-up by the hosting Bullettes in the first half, the WACO girls punched back to cut an 18-point halftime deficit to seven, but time ran out on the hungry Warriors, and Mediapolis walked out with a 48-38 win.

Nothing went right for the Warriors in the first two quarters. Mediapolis sped up WACO throughout the first half with an aggressive full-court press that caused a flurry of turnovers and missed layups from the visiting Warriors.

The Bullettes held a 14-5 lead after one quarter and a 32-14 advantage at the half.

'I just challenged them at halftime and said we're so much better than that,” head coach Lisa Graber said. 'We have a bunch of athletes, and we can't let the little things beat us.”

WACO came out for the third quarter like it had something to prove. The Warriors opened the third quarter up on a 7-2 run, netting four points from Tesla Malloy and three from Ella Kissell. Mediapolis stopped the run with a 3-pointer in the final minutes, but the Warriors had shown they weren't going down without a fight.

WACO trailed 37-21 heading into the fourth quarter, but that deficit would soon be single digits. Kissell helped get the run started with a blocked shot on the defensive end, and then put up eight points in the final quarter. Aubri Garnsey added five, and Morgan Graber scored four as the Warriors chopped away until Mediapolis' lead was just seven, at 45-37, with only a couple minutes left.

Unfortunately for the traveling WACO fans, the Warriors cooled off in the final 2 minutes of the game. WACO could never get the game down to two possessions, and Mediapolis escaped with only a scare.

'We're sharpening up,” said coach Graber. 'If you go back and look at our first game at Winfield to now, you can see that we're sharpening up.”

Kissell finished the night with 17 points to lead the Warriors in scoring. Graber and Malloy put up six apiece. Garnsey finished with five, and the duo of Grace Coble and Molly McLaughlin finished with two apiece.

WACO is now 1-3 on the young season. The Warriors will host Cardinal in the first half of a girls and boys doubleheader on Friday night. Mediapolis moved to 2-0 with the win.