By Derrick Forsythe, Record Sports Editor
Each year it seems the Warrenton girls basketball team finds itself stuck in a one-dimensional offense. This season the Warriors relied strongly on the perimeter game, but the absence of scoring in the paint prevented them from breaking through to the next level. Warrenton wrapped up its season with another first-round district loss, ending the season at 6-18. The Warriors went 2-6 in the GAC, despite a conference shift that had them playing smaller schools than in past years. Both victories came against Winfield. “We had hoped for a better finish in the conference,” said Coach Barb Woodruff. With just two seniors on the roster and a sophomore running the offense, Woodruff was reserved in her expectations. “I knew going into the season that we would be young and inexperienced,” said Woodruff. “Our inexperience showed at times. We had several games where we couldn’t finish.” A lack of size, combined with a rigorous nonconference schedule, presented a constant challenge for the Warriors. They began the season 2-2, earning wins against Montgomery County and University City. Warrenton dropped four straight to follow, before defeating Sumner in early January. The Warriors finished sixth in each of their tournaments. “Regardless of what the score was, we continued to fight,” said Woodruff, of her team’s effort. Led by senior Hannah Keene and sophomore Hannah Sutton, the Warriors were very guard oriented. “We had some outside shooting that people had to honor defensively,” said Woodruff. If a team could lock down the outside shooters, though, Warrenton found it difficult to generate success. “When we were playing against a really good man-to-man team we would struggle with them guarding us so tight on the perimeter,” said Woodruff. Sutton, who increased her varsity minutes at the point guard role from her freshman year, averaged a team-best 13.3 points and two assists per game. She also grabbed four rebounds each night. “She’s our best penetrater and dish-off player,” said Woodruff. “We asked her to do a lot as a sophomore. We want the younger kids to look up to her and desire to play at that level.” Sutton ended the season with 43 three-pointers and made twice as many free throws as anyone else on the team. Keene proved to be the Warriors’ most dangerous outside threat, knocking down a team-high 56 treys while averaging 10.4 points per contest. Woodruff also labels Keene as her most dependable and effective defensive player. Warrenton received help from the guard position off the bench from Sam Swoboda and Abby Bartch. Sophomore Kylie Toebben was a leader on the boards with 5.1, despite being undersized. She also recorded a team-best 2.4 steals. Senior Madie Heath battled inside, along with Ally Gray and Stacey Hemminghaus. Tyler Gregory was also counted on when it came to cleaning up the glass. “I thought Madie got better as the year went on,” said Woodruff. Still, the Warriors often found themselves getting out-rebounded by taller, more aggressive opponents. “We’ve got to work on getting more physical and competitive in the paint,” said Woodruff. “At times we struggled in the paint.”
