The Crofton Lady Warriors were back in action on Monday, Dec. 29 to take on the Wynot Lady Blue Devils in the first round of the Crofton Holiday Tournament.
After a long holiday moratorium, the Lady Warriors stepped back into the gym to take on the 5-2 Lady Blue Devils of Wynot with the hopes of advancing to the holiday tournament championship.
In the first quarter, both teams showed some rust as they struggled to get their offenses going.
Despite this rust, the Lady Warriors managed to get some high-percentage shots to fall and built an 8-2 lead going into the second quarter.
To start the second quarter, the Lady Warriors came out hot.
As their defense remained strong, the Lady Warriors offense started to heat up as they opened up the quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 16-2 lead with just over two minutes left before halftime.
However, in those final two minutes, the Lady Blue Devils started to find some cracks in the Crofton defense and managed to go on a run of their own.
Behind an 8-3 run to close out the half, the Blue Devils were able to cut the Warriors lead down to just 19-10 going into halftime. Still up by nine, the Warriors used their halftime break to settle down and came out in the third quarter with their heads clear and ready to go.
Behind a 5-0 run to open up the third, the Warriors were able to quickly increase their lead back to 14 points and once again were on the brink of blowing out their opponents.
However, once again the Lady Blue Devils clawed hard with their backs against the wall and went on another little run of their own to get back to within 11 by the time the quarter came to an end.
With a stable 32-21 lead and just eight minutes left to play, it seemed as though the Warriors were going to have little troubles closing out their first victory back from holiday break, but the Blue Devils fought until the bitter end.
In the fourth, the Blue Devils continued to chip away at the lead the Warriors had earned, and with just four minutes left, Crofton’s lead had dwindled down to 37-33.
After a few more minutes of play, the Warriors managed to hold on to a 41-35 lead with just one and a half minutes left to play.
In the closing minutes of the contest, the Blue Devils continued to fight with everything they had, but the Warriors were able to make plays when it mattered most and held on for the 43-37 victory at home.
Leading the way for the Lady Warriors in their first-round holiday tournament victory were Jaisie Janssen with 20 points, Seanna Pinkelman with 15, and the duo of Jacee Anthony and Addyson Ostermeyer each with four.