After erasing a 20-point deficit to six, the chips seemed to be falling into place.The Warrenton girls basketball team had the opposition on its heels and had finally figured out how to attack its most imposing threat.But the Warriors’ slow start was simply too much to overcome, as they fell 54-39 to St. Charles West in the program’s first-ever Class 4 sectional playoff appearance on Tuesday at Francis Howell Central.“When we got within six, I was thinking ‘Oh my goodness. This really is laid out for us, and we’re going to make it happen,’ ” said senior Hannah Sutton.Trailing 27-13 at halftime, Coach Greg Williams encouraged his players at halftime to keep battling for the principles they have worked for all season — faith in God and trusting in teammates.“The girls were determined not to give up,” said Williams. “We wanted to focus on what we could do in the final two quarters and not what had already happened.”The Warriors entered the third quarter with a renewed focus and began attacking the daunting presence of 6-foot-3 Kacy Eschweiler with more confidence.“We battled back and won that third quarter, which was awesome,” said first-year Coach Greg Williams. “I really thought we had a chance as we took over the momentum, but we just didn’t get any breaks.”Sophomore Jenny Jansen, who had shown some timidness in her approach during the first half while scoring just four points, suddenly came to life. She ended up with 11 of her team-best 19 points in the third period.Check out the photo gallery from the sectional here: http://bit.ly/1GJH8fG.“I knew that Kacy likes to block, so I knew that if I took it at her she would foul me,” said Jansen. “Sometimes I might get blocked, but you’ve just got to keep taking it at her, because you’ll eventually get a foul call, and I did a few times.”Warrenton doubled its counterpart in scoring during that stretch, winning the battle at the free-throw line. The Warriors seemed to have a grasp on the game heading into the fourth quarter down only 35-29.“We just got a few foul calls and hit a few threes,” said Jansen. “We were closing in on the lead, and that brought up our energy. We didn’t want to let this game go, so we made sure we made an effort to battle back.”“It was super exciting and our energy was up just knowing that we were within six points,” said senior Kylie Toebben. “I could feel the win, and it definitely kept us going, and we kept fighting.”But St. Charles West countered with consecutive treys, and Eschweiler landed a couple key blocks to help her team extend its lead back out to a comfortable margin.Warrenton fell behind 10-1 to start the game, managing just one field goal in the opening quarter as both teams went scoreless for the first three minutes.St. Charles West led 15-3 heading into the second period and quickly pushed that margin to 20, as Eschweiler went to work inside.“I tried to make myself look big,” said junior Amanda Lafaver, who was assigned to guard her much of the night. “I used a dead front and counted on my backside help to be there, and they did a good job of that.”The Warriors had seen Eschweiler on two previous occasions this season — losing by 25 and 17 — and it appeared she would have her way with them again. During the first half she scored with relative ease and created a nightmare inside for hesitant shooters.“If we wouldn’t have had so many nerves, I think we could have had a better start and it would have been a whole different game,” said Williams. “We struggled offensively. We couldn’t get shots to fall, and the shots we were taking weren’t that great.”Warrenton finished the season 18-8.RALLY FALLS SHORTDerrick Forsythe photo.