The WACO Warriors and Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves split their SEISC-North doubleheader Saturday, with the WACO girls winning 56-41 and the WMU boys returning the favor 48-41.
The girls game featured two teams seeking a second win on the season. WACO jumped out to an early lead, taking a 10-2 advantage despite missing several shots inside the paint. However, Winfield-Mt. Union managed to stick around through a solid shooting effort. WACO led by 6 at the end of the first, 12-6, but only managed to extend that lead by a single point heading into the half, 30-23.
The second half saw WACO keep a steady scoring pace, but the Wolves refused to go away until the end. WMU got within 4 at a few different points in the third quarter, with Suttyn Schlee and Madisen Kellogg leading the charge. Unfortunately for the Wolves, WACO hit another gear at the end of the quarter and into the fourth, clamping down on defense and holding WMU to just a single made shot from the field in the fourth quarter. WACO built their largest lead of the game, which turned out to be the 56-41 final.
WACO head coach Mitch Drey says despite struggling to put away shots inside, he was happy with the fight his team showed going for rebounds, “You know, we did a good job fighting in there. I think a lot of it was, we missed a lot of bunnies, which we got their own rebounds for, so their stats look good. If we make the first one, I would be happy if they had 5 or 6 less rebounds each, and more of those made baskets on the first attempts, but I’m not going to take that away from them. You know, it’s tough to miss two times, and be fighting in there like they were, so it’s great to see.”
Brenna Graber led all scorers with 19, and Madelyn Farmer added a tough 12. The Wolves were led by Suttyn Schlee’s 11. WACO improves to 2-6 both overall and in conference, while WMU drops to 1-9 overall and 0-7 in conference.
The boys game came next, and starred two teams looking to claim second place in the SEISC-North. After an even start to the game, Winfield-Mt. Union upped the tempo and built up a 16-6 lead, a lead that quickly shrunk back to 7 to end the first quarter, 18-11. WACO would keep on the tail of the Wolves, and kept biting bit by bit into that lead. Eventually, the two teams headed into the locker rooms with a 26-25 scoreline.
Two back-to-back three-pointers from WMU’s Cody Milks made it seem as if the Wolves would pull away starting in the third quarter, but WACO fought back enough to get a lead, albeit a brief one. Nothing was decided in the third quarter, and the one-point advantage remained, 36-35. Unfortunately for the Warriors, despite two three-pointers from Hayden Shelman, the offensive juice ran out in the final quarter. WMU steadily pulled away, and put the game on ice late to claim a 48-41 win.
WMU head coach Klay Edwards says he liked the way the team played just a day removed from their win against Wapello, where they struggled offensively despite a 38-33 win, “I’m really proud of the way they responded. They could have got down on themselves, but they didn’t. They came ready to play today, and yeah, we made just enough plays to squeak this one out.”
Milks led the Wolves, and all other scorers, with 17. Isaac Egli followed up his heroics against Wapello with a steady 10. WACO’s Hayden Shelman picked up 13. Winfield-Mt. Union is now 6-2, and 6-1 in conference, while WACO falls to 5-3 and 5-2 in conference.