WEST POINT, Ala. – The West Point Warriors and Lady Warriors returned home to host Deshler for a pair of varsity matchups Monday night, but both the Tigers and Lady Tigers went home with wins. The Lady Tigers held off a late rally from the Lady Warriors to win 76-65 and the Tigers edged West Point 63-60 in the nightcap.
Deshler 76 – West Point 65 (Varsity Girls)
Deshler got on the scoreboard first with a three. Ryleigh Jones hit back-to-back layups behind nice passes from Liberty Shadix and Hallie Wheeler to give West Point a 4-3 lead. The Lady Tigers then scored seven in a row to grab a 10-4 lead. After a Summer Mendoza three-point play cut the Lady Warrior deficit to three, Deshler proceeded to score the next eight points to push their lead to 18-7. Another Jones layup made it a nine-point game, but the Lady Tigers drilled a three right before the buzzer and West Point found themselves down, 21-9, after one period.
A pair of Jones free throws and a Mendoza layup cut the deficit to 21-13 to start out the second quarter, but once again, Deshler went on another run as they scored 10 straight points to increase the Lady Warrior deficit to 31-13. The Lady Tigers later made it 35-14, but Braelee Quinn drilled a shot from deep to cut the Deshler lead to 35-17. The Lady Warriors wasn’t able to cut into the deficit any more and they went into the half trailing, 43-25.
A 10-2 run by Deshler to start out the third period had West Point looking at a 53-27 deficit. But the Lady Warriors responded with a run of their own, a huge one to be specific, as Mendoza scored the first five points of what ended up being a 20-2 run for West Point. That huge finish to end the quarter cut the Deshler lead to just eight at 55-47.
The Lady Tigers made it 58-47 to start out the final period, but later on, one of Deshler’s players got a technical. Mendoza and Jones each hit a pair from the line to make it a six-point game, then Jones added a layup to cut it to 58-53. But another huge run by the Lady Tigers stopped West Point’s comeback attempt in its tracks as an 11-1 run pushed their lead to 69-54. Mendoza and Jones scored West Point’s next five points to make it a ten-point game, but Deshler always had an answer whenever the Lady Warriors tried to go on a run. West Point fell just short at the end to the Lady Tigers, 76-65.
Mendoza finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, and a pair of steals for West Point (3-3). Jones added 22 points, seven rebounds, and a steal. Quinn ended up with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and a block.
Deshler 63 – West Point 60 (Varsity Boys)
Deshler scored the first five points of the game to take a quick 5-0 lead, but West Point had a quick answer as Samuel Wheeler put the Warriors on the scoreboard with a free throw, then back-to-back baskets down low by Kolten Perry tied the game up at five. The Tigers held a 14-8 lead late in the first period and after a Wheeler layup made it a four-point game, seven straight Deshler points gave them a double-digit lead at 21-10. An Ethan Gammon made shot made it a 21-12 game after one period.
The Warriors cut into the deficit to start out the second period as Gammon and Perry scored West Point’s first seven points to swivel the deficit to just four at 23-19. But Deshler pushed their lead back to 10 at 31-21 midway through the second period. Jay Lamar and Aiden Dujoud scored the Warriors’ next five points to make it a 31-26 game and later on, an Andrew Lynn trey cut the deficit to four at 33-29. But the Tigers added a three before the half ended as the Warriors went into the half trailing, 36-29.
Back-to-back threes from Cade Simmons and Lamar made it a 39-35 game to start out the second half, but once again, Deshler had an answer as they went on a 10-0 run to increase their lead to 49-35. The Warriors, though, answered right back as Perry, Lynn, and Jayden Laney scored the final 12 points of the third period for West Point as they went into the final period down by just six at 53-47.
Points were hard to come by for both teams, but a three-point play by Deshler made it a 58-47 game with 5:30 remaining in the contest. West Point finally got a shot to fall as a Lynn trey cut the deficit to eight with 3:27 remaining in the game. Huge threes by Lamar and Lynn sandwiched around a Perry layup swiveled the West Point deficit to just three at 61-58 with only 25 seconds to go in the contest. The Tigers split their free throws on their next two trips to the free-throw line to give them a 63-58 lead with 17 seconds left and the ending was a little crazy. Wheeler got fouled while shooting a three with just two seconds left on the clock. He hit the first two, then he intentionally missed the third, got his own rebound, but a bad pass quickly sealed West Point’s fate as they dropped a heartbreaker at home to Deshler, 63-60.
Perry finished the game with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and a block for West Point. Lynn hit four threes on the night as he finished with 12 points and a block. Wheeler added nine points and six rebounds and Lamar ended up with eight points and a steal. West Point will travel to Cold Springs on Tuesday.
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