On Wednesday, January 3rd, the West Branch Lady Warrior basketball team played the undefeated St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy. The Lady Warriors fought tooth and nail, keeping the game close against an outstanding team. Going into halftime, they were only down by one point. The Warriors, however, could not stop the dynamic duo between two of St. Joseph’s talented guards, who both had five three-pointers each. West Branch ended up falling short and losing 45-63. Game leaders included Jenna Mertz with 21 points and Sarah Gugliemi with 9 points. On a good note, the Warriors’ own Jenna Mertz conquered a milestone by achieving her 1,000th point. She will go down in the WB history books as the third-ever Lady Warrior to accomplish this milestone. Jenna also hopes to break the single-season point record that she previously broke last year with a total of 390 points. 

On Friday, January 5th, the Lady Warriors traveled to Mount Union. West Branch started sluggish in the first half due to a long bus ride and being late, leading to not having a full warm-up. The girls did, however, find their groove and were lights out defensively in the second half. They won with a score of 35-22. Senior starter Allison Shingledecker had a few words to say about the Mount Union Game. “I’m very proud of the team for not hanging our heads over the first half, and doing what needed to be done to pull ahead and get the win.” After this week’s games against St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy and the Mount Union Trojans, the Warriors record stands at 5-4. The Lady Warriors’ next game will be Tuesday at home against the Curwenswille Golden Tide. Then, Wednesday the Warriors will play against the Mount Union Trojans again, hoping to complete the sweep. To round out the week, they will travel to Glendale on Friday to take on the 3-9 Glendale Vikings.