Weldon Valley girls basketball hits the ground running hard

In its short stint to begin the season in December, Weldon Valley girls basketball only had one win to its name.

Since the start of the new year, the Warriors have added three more victories, including two in just the last week. A straight-up thriller against Lone Star last Tuesday gave way to a hammering of Two Roads Charter School two days later.

In their first contest against the Longhorns, the Warriors fought off a strong, fourth-quarter push to force overtime, then barely outplayed their bovine foes in extra time to win 53-52. They put together four solid offensive performances from junior Annie Onufrak (13 points), sophomore Haylee Nelson (10 points), senior Jaci Sanders (nine points) and sophomore Skylar Scott (nine points).

Nelson proved a menace on the glass as she added 19 rebounds to her totals, and Scott led the team with five assists. Sanders and junior Ellie Koch both secured five steals.

That nailbiter paled in comparison to the performance that the ladies were able to put together on the road on Thursday, when they defeated the Falcons 46-17. The Warriors utilized a white- hot first quarter of shooting, during which they put up 18 points to the two from the Falcons, and continued to push the pace until the final buzzer.

Only Onufrak crossed the double-digit Rubicon with 11 points, but spread the ball around nicelyas 10 players in all got on the scoreboard. Onufrak gave the Falcons the biggest headache in nearly every aspect of the game, as she added 14 rebounds, five steals, two assists and a block.

The Warriors’ two consecutive victories erased the two straight losses leading up to them and pushed their overall record to 4-6. They had an excellent chance to string together their longest winning streak of the season when they hosted a 2-7 Otis team on Tuesday night, and will now turn their attention toward their road game at Deer Trail on Friday.