In a back-and-forth, highly contested district quarterfinal matchup, Warrenton was unable to overcome cold overtime shooting and the absence of one of their key contributors. 

Warrenton (17-10) fell to St. Dominic 56-49 in overtime in the first round of the Class 5, District 4 tournament in a rematch of last season’s district championship game, which Warrenton won 45-41. 

“They came out and hit that three,” Warrenton head coach Hannah Logan said. “We just couldn’t answer. We kept trying. Our threes started going in the fourth quarter to get us back and take the lead. In overtime, we just couldn’t get our threes going.” 

Junior Isabel Benke hit a couple three-pointers to keep Warrenton in the game in the final quarter. She hit a three to put Warrenton up 41-40 early in the final quarter. She hit a three later in the quarter to pull Warrenton within one point. With Warrenton trailing St. Dominic 47-44, senior Kendall Taylor hit a three-pointer to tie the game with under 20 seconds remaining. 

“That is exactly what we wanted,” Logan said. “She answered and it was great. We joke with her all the time in practice that she’s going to have the time to shine and she did.” 

Warrenton was unable to carry over their successful three-point shooting into overtime. St. Dominic scored the first six points of the overtime period to take an early 53-47 overtime lead. St. Dominic’s Kennedy Hoff hit her only three of the game on the first possession of overtime. Warrenton trimmed their deficit to four on Zoe Klaus’ basket but was unable to get any closer. St. Dominic hit three free throws down the stretch to put the game away. 

Both Warrenton and St. Dominic struggled early on the offensive end. The Lady Warriors scored their first points on Erin Klasing’s three-pointer about halfway through the opening quarter. St. Dominic led 8-6 after the opening quarter. 

“I kind of felt like everyone was a little nervous,” Logan said. “The ball was kind of a hot potato on both ends. It was out of bounds, out of bounds, out of bounds. I think it was 3-2 for the longest time. I said well, we’re going to win this game 3-2.”

Warrenton was trailing 25-21 at halftime before going on a 12-0 run early in the third quarter to take a six-point lead. 

“The focuses of the second half was we had to have ball pressure and we had to box out on defense,” Logan said. “Offensive rebounding for them was killing us. I told them we had to get a body. They’re not just going to be right there. We had to be able to find them, get a body and pull it down and be strong with it. And when we came out in the second half, we did that. We found bodies and we executed on the rebounds.”

Warrenton played the district quarterfinal without junior Nevaeh Hill, who was ill last week. Hill was the Lady Warriors’ most productive post player throughout the season. She averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds for Warrenton. 

“I told them before the game started someone was going to have to step up,” Logan said. “I said if you get four rebounds, well now you might have to get 14...I do think they did a great job as a team stepping up individually to fill that spot that was missing tonight.”

Warrenton ended the season with 17 wins, matching their win total from last season. They won the GAC North title outright this season, with a perfect 10-0 conference record. Warrenton finished tied for second in the conference last season with a 5-3 conference record. 

“I think we play a really tough schedule. That’s what I told them tonight,” Logan said. “We play a really tough schedule and we still came out with a winning record, which was one of our goals. I think we really locked down and we won the games that we should have won. And we showed conference we were going to be number one. That was what we wanted to be.”