The Winters Warriors basketball teams laced up again for another week of competition, tipping off last Monday, Jan. 9 against Colusa High School.
Women’s varsity
The women’s varsity basketball team played host to the flock of RedHawks and squared off in a remarkable showdown. When the feathers settled, however, Colusa ended up edging the Warriors in a close game winning 51–46.
A few days later on Wednesday, Jan. 11, the Warriors were set to take on Paradise High School. Mother Nature had other ideas with her rainstorms making it too dangerous for travel. The game itself will be rescheduled for a later date.
To cap off their week on Friday, Jan. 13, the squad traveled up to Willows High School to take on the Honkers. Unfortunately, the Warriors didn’t bring their A-game and would lose 41–34.
“The girls played hard at times against Colusa last Monday, but not consistently hard. We definitely could have had that one at home then the rain washed the game against Paradise out,” said head coach Jeff Christian. “We played again Friday and that was a rough one. We’re missing a couple of players, but didn’t play consistently and didn’t play hard, and lost to Willows. Nothing against them, but we had no business losing to Willows because we were the better team and they took it to us. We’ve got work to do and hopefully, we can take a step toward getting better.”
Men’s varsity
The varsity men’s team traveled up to Colusa to take on the RedHawks. The Warriors fought hard, even cutting their opponent’s lead to within single digits at one point. In the end, Colusa’s offense would tip the scale back in their favor and go on to win 64–42.
Unfortunately for the Paradise Bobcats who came to play a few days later on Wednesday, Jan. 11, they’d be going up against an aggravated Warriors squad. The four-quarter beatdown sent the Bobcats back home with their tails between their legs and an 85–55 loss on their record, courtesy of the Winters Warriors.
The Warriors would carry that momentum with them as they squared off against Willows on Friday, Jan. 13. There was no bad luck voodoo for the Warriors on that Friday the 13, only a grind against the Honkers that ended in a 58–53 win for Winters High School.
“We had a long week with three games in five days, but I think we’re starting to hit our stride as a team. On Monday against Colusa, we didn’t handle their press well in the first half but did in the second half. We cut their lead down to single digits and forced a time-out. Ultimately, we lost the game but played hard all the way through,” said head coach Brendan McShea. “Wednesday we played our best offensive game yet against Paradise and shot almost 50 percent from the field. Marcus Lopez and Logan Crabtree had great games on both ends as did Colton Brown showing his versatility in guarding every position on the floor. We finished the week in a close game against Willows. We were up five with less than two minutes to go and we caused a five-second count on Willows’ inbound play to seal the win.”
