The Warrenton Lady Warriors overcame a seven point fourth quarter deficit but ultimately fell to the Sullivan Lady Eagles in Monday night’s non-conference matchup.  

Warrenton (2-3) fell to Sullivan (1-2) 50-47 in a home matchup Monday. Warrenton overcame a 45-38 fourth quarter deficit to tie the game at 47 apiece. After Sullivan took a three-point lead, Warrenton had a chance to tie the game on their last possession. Kendall Taylor, who hit six three pointers in the game, was unable to connect on a three-point attempt at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. 

Coach Hannah Logan said the Lady Warriors got the look they wanted after calling a timeout with under six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. 

“We put Isabel (Benke) in the corner to be the decoy, hoping they were all going to go for her,” Logan said. “Since Kendall had hit six threes, we were hoping she’d get a wide open look. And we executed. It worked. We had the look. We just missed the shot.” 

Logan said the Lady Warriors’ approach was to go for the game-tying three pointer when they gained possession of the ball with 17 seconds remaining after Sullivan was called for an illegal screen on offense. 

After leading by five points heading into halftime, the Lady Warriors found themselves down by seven points in the fourth quarter. Warrenton went on a 9-2 run to tie the game with less than a minute remaining in regulation. 

Sullivan’s Abby Peterson, who led all players with 19 points, connected on one of two free throws to give Sullivan a 48-47 lead with under 30 seconds remaining. Sullivan secured an offensive rebound off Peterson’s missed second free throw. After a timeout, the Lady Warriors were called for an intentional foul. Dakayla McClain hit both free throws to give the Lady Eagles a three point lead prior to the moving screen foul with 17 seconds remaining. 

The Lady Warriors’ halftime lead was quickly erased in the third quarter. Sullivan outscored Warrenton 14-6 in the quarter. 

“We came out slow defensively and offensively,” Logan said. “We were letting them get wide open rebounds on offense. And then our offense, we weren’t executing. We weren’t running our offense. We’d do one screen and they wouldn’t get the reversal back. So we were just stagnant and we couldn’t get it moving. Couldn’t get anything flowing. The second half we just came out very slow. Not ready to go.”

The Lady Warriors overcame an early 8-3 first quarter deficit to lead by as many as eight points in the first half. Taylor hit three first quarter three pointers to turn a 8-3 first quarter deficit into a 12-10 lead. Warrenton built a 29-21 lead late in the second quarter before Sullivan guard Molly Lohden hit a three pointer before halftime to trim the Lady Warrior lead to five points. 

“The offense was great,” Logan said. “We were setting one screen, hitting the roller and we were scoring. We didn’t have to do much offense because our first look was working every time. The first half, I thought we did great defensively and offensively. And then we just came out slow after half.” 

Taylor led the Lady Warriors with 18 points. Junior Sophi Mueller also reached double figures, scoring 12 points. 

The Lady Warriors were slated to square off against St. Charles Tuesday. Warrenton is scheduled to host North Point at 5 p.m. Dec. 13.