One zero disappeared and one zero remains after Tuesday’s doubleheader at WACO High School, as the Warrior girls earned their first win by defeating Hillcrest Academy 45-19, while the Raven boys improved to 5-0 with a 55-44 win later in the night.
The WACO girls were 0-4 coming into Tuesday night, with single-digit losses in 3 of those games. The Warriors immediately showed that they were better than their record, jumping out to an 11-0 lead against a Ravens team trying to earn its second win in conference play. Both teams sought to create pressure, leading to a game with lots of steals, turnovers, and loose balls. While Hillcrest eventually found its footing, and cut the deficit to 5 at one point in the second quarter, WACO jumped back out to a 22-12 lead by halftime.
The second half saw an already tight WACO defense get even tighter. With Hillcrest’s season-leading scorer Claire Withrow mostly contained to the bench with foul trouble, the Ravens struggled to create any kind of offense, and began to tire out. Meanwhile, although WACO’s offense struggled equally in the third quarter, WACO put their foot on the gas and outscored Hillcrest 17-1 in the game’s final quarter. WACO eventually dribbled out the clock to earn a 26-point win, picking up their first victory in 2025.
WACO head coach Mitch Drey said credit to holding Hillcrest to just a single point in the final quarter should all be given to the girls. “I gotta give it to all the girls. You don’t get to do that, I can say all I want about that, that’s the five girls on the court and the six girls who are ready to sub in. You don’t get to keep that kind of stuff in the fourth quarter unless you have everybody bought in. And I think we did a great job being bought in. Doing the little things, and being there for our teammates.”
Juniors Brenna Graber and Drew Graber led WACO with 11 points a piece. Courtney Waterhouse added 8. Hillcrest’s Niva Helmuth had over half the team’s points, scoring 12 of the 19. WACO improves to 1-4 overall and in conference, while Hillcrest falls to 3-4 and 1-4 in conference.
The boys’ game was a bit of a marquee matchup, with both WACO and Hillcrest being expected to land near the top of the SEISC-North this season. In the early stages of the game, it delivered, with an early 9-4 Hillcrest run being countered by a WACO run that gave the Warriors a 15-13 lead after the first quarter. Neither side got huge production from their top scorers, but others stepped up, such as the Warriors’ Nick West, who had 12 in the first half, and Hillcrest’s Gibson Scott, who had 11. The two teams traded leads all throughout the second quarter, but the Warriors also led going into the locker rooms, 27-26.
The third quarter was perhaps the decisive quarter. WACO struggled from the field, but Hillcrest started to see production from their top guys, with Rowan Miller entering the books with an early 3-pointer and Kale Bailey continuing a steady stream of scoring. The Ravens outscored the Warriors 15-8 to take a 6-point lead heading into the final quarter, a quarter in which Hillcrest was able to keep WACO from getting any clean shots at the basket. The Ravens took their first double-digit lead of the game late, and took their fifth straight win to open the season 55-44.
Hillcrest head coach Stephen Bender says opening the season 5-0 will do a lot for the boys’ confidence. “You know, WACO’s a good team. They’ve got good history, good tradition here, good athletes, a good coaching staff. And so for us to come in here, to get our fifth win of the year in five tries, it’s gonna give our guys confidence. We know we can play with anyone.”
Scott ended up leading all scorers with 17 points. Miller scored 14 points, all of which were in the second half. Isaac Birky, even after fouling out in the fourth, still reached double digits with 10. For WACO, West led the team with 15 points, and Hayden Shelman put 10 through. Hillcrest is 5-0 both overall and in conference, while WACO falls to 3-2 and 3-1 in conference play.