It was a Thursday Area Game of the Week sweep for the WACO Warrior boys and girls basketball teams, as both sides took down the Louisa-Muscatine Falcons at home in a doubleheader heard live on KCII.

Up first was the girls game, which WACO took 49-38. After starting the first quarter slow on the road at Pekin Tuesday, the Warriors quickly changed up their pace Thursday night, scoring 13 to lead the contest by two after the first period. However, L&M was able to find their footing in the second, outscoring the Warriors 15-9 to take a 26-22 lead into the break. WACO would respond to the deficit firing on all cylinders out of the locker rooms to retake the lead 37-36 after the third. In the final frame, WACO turned up the defense, only allowing a single bucket when Falcon junior Lexi Ramer fouled out. The Grabers of Drew and Brenna scored all 12 points in the period to help the Warriors cross the finish line with the win.

Unofficially, WACO won the contest after losing turnovers by 16, but won the glass by 20. Drew and Brenna Graber combined for 31 points for the victorious Warriors, while the Falcons were paced by 13 from Hannah Kissell. After the game, co-Warrior of the Game, Brenna Graber, joined KCII Sports to explain her connection with Drew and her thoughts on the win.

“ Drew and I have been playing basketball since fourth grade, and so she knows to run the floor just like all the other bigs on the team. And tonight was just one of those nights where everything clicked and it was good. She was able to finish and was able to get most of the passes there. So it was just really fun to do that,” Graber said. “We’ve never played as good of defense as we did tonight, we’ve been working on it at practice and in film, we can point it out of where we need to get better and we really showed that tonight.”

The win raises WACO’s record to 6-7 overall, 4-7 in league play. The loss drops Louisa-Muscatine to 11-4 on the year, 9-3 in conference.

In the boys game, WACO would use double-digit scoring in each quarter to race to a 73-45 win. Action was tied at 13 all after one, before the Warriors would jump in front by six before halftime. The gap would grow again in favor of WACO 46-33 after three, before a 27-point fourth quarter put the game away.

Unofficially, WACO lost the glass by one, but won turnovers by 18. Holden Hughes was the star of the night for WACO, earning Warrior of the Game honors after a game-high 25-point night. He joined KCII Sports postgame to go over the victory.

“ I think my three point attempts were really spot on. I found my spot wide open and then dishing it to some teammates here and there. They were all wide open. When our shots are falling, our defense picks up really well, and after we force some turnovers, get a couple fast break layups, that score just continues to increase,” Hughes said.

L&M was led by 17 from Oscar Cline. With the win, WACO is now 7-6 on the year, 7-3 in the Superconference North, while L&M falls to 2-12, 1-10 in conference play.