Warren-A-O Girls Basketball holds on to beat Sacred Heart

The Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies built an early lead and held off a late Sacred Heart Eagle comeback for a 62-57 victory in a Section 8A matchup played at the Sacred Heart High School gymnasium.

FIRST HALF –
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo jumped out to a 12-2 lead to start the game behind a basket by Annie Peterson, a three-pointer from Ava Oberg, and a three-pointer from Markelle Pederson for an 8-0 lead. Sacred Heart finally got on the board with a Lexi Lawrence basket before the Ponies responded with baskets from Annie Peterson and Reegan Mortimer for a 12-2 lead with 14:19 left in the half. Sacred Heart went inside to Lawrence again for a basket, and Leah Sundby had a beautiful pass to Anna Kaiser for a basket to get within a 14-6 deficit. WAO responded with an Annie Peterson three-pointer, which started a back-and-forth offensive exchange. WAO led 26-18 when Markelle Pederson scored five straight points, Mortimer and Macey Boe added baskets, and the Ponies had a 34-18 lead with five minutes remaining in the half.
Sacred Heart started to heat up the rest of the half as Ella Arntson and Lydia Riskey made three-pointers before the Ponies’ Annie Peterson scored a basket to give her team a 36-24 lead with three minutes left in the half. Sacred Heart’s Lawrence scored under the basket, Sundby and Finley Horken added three-pointers to get within a 36-32 deficit with 80 seconds to go. The only points in the final minute came on a Markelle Pederson three-pointer and Warren-Alvarado-Oslo took a 39-32 lead into halftime.

SECOND HALF –
The offense slowed down in the second half, and Sacred Heart’s Finley Horken made a three-pointer to bring Sacred Heart within a 39-35 deficit one minute into the half. The teams exchanged baskets, and with WAO leading 44-40, Markelle Pederson made a basket, Annie Peterson made one free throw, and Pederson followed with a steal and a layup before they added another basket for a 51-40 lead with over nine minutes left in the game. Sacred Heart bounced back with a steal and basket by Ella Arntson and Sundby three-pointer to get within a 51-45 deficit. The Ponies stopped the run with a Macey Boe three-pointer. Sacred Heart’s Lawrence made a basket in the paint before the Ponies’ Pederson made a basket for a nine-point lead. Sacred Heart started to chip away at the Pony lead with a three-pointer from Kate Bernhoft before Lawrence scored in the paint to get within a 56-52 deficit with 4:45 remaining. WAO’s Boe made a big three, and Mortimer added a basket for a 60-52 lead with less than four minutes to go. Sacred Heart’s Lawrence stopped the run with an offensive rebound and putback, and Sundby rattled home a three-pointer to get the Eagles within a 60-57 deficit with 18.8 seconds remaining. WAO’s Mortimer made two free throws with 4.2 seconds left in the game to seal it, and the Ponies won 62-57.

Warren-Alvarado-Oslo improves to 4-0 on the year, while Sacred Heart drops to 2-1.