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Washington Evening Journal
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WACO girls win 8th-straight
Warriors dish out payback for earlier loss, win 8th game in a row
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PACKWOOD — When the Pekin and WACO girls basketball teams met earlier this winter, it was the Panthers who walked away with a seven-point victory. On Tuesday night, the streaking Warriors weren’t about to let that happen again.
WACO put up a dominant performance in Packwood, beating the Panthers 55-31 to stick within two games of Columbus for first place in the conference standings.
It was the WACO defense that controlled the tempo early on. After leading 15-10 at the first horn, the Warriors allowed just six second-quarter points, and held a comfortable 30-16 halftime lead.
“We've changed up our defense since last time,” said WACO head coach Lisa Graber. “We've been working really hard on finding a person and going straight up man, and I think that made a big difference.”
The Warriors built up a 17-point lead by the end of three quarters, going up 44-27 before the final period of play. In the fourth, WACO continued to dominate. In all, the Warriors didn’t lose a quarter all night.
“It gives our team a lot of confidence,” said Brenna Graber, who led the Warriors with 20 points in the win. “We're on a winning streak right now, and this one really helps us a lot.”
Ella Huisenga scored 13 points for WACO. Madelyn Farmer and Drew Graber had six each. Ava Wagler scored four. Courtney Waterhouse put up three. Carlee Lunsford added two, and Morgan Leichty finished with one.
Pekin’s Anna Hadley had a solid night despite the loss, pouring in 14 points. Renea Eubanks put up seven. Abby Guise had six. Paislee Colmean finished with three, and Maddy Petrehn finished with one.
WACO is now 10-3 overall and 8-2 in conference play. Pekin fell to 5-7 with the loss, and sits at 5-6 in league action.
