MATTAWA — Ricardo Cabrera hit for a game-high 27 points, Sergio Pineda added 22 and the Warriors picked up a 77-57 home win over the Hawks Saturday.

The victory helped sooth the pain of an emotionally charged loss at Royal Friday.

This one was all Wahluke as the Warriors led 26-10 after the first quarter was in the books, and was up 39-23 at intermission. The win moves Wahluke to 8-4 in conference play, and gives the team a one game lead over Connell and Kiona-Benton who are deadlocked for third place in the league standings with two games left in the regular season.

“I thought we executed well on both ends of the court — rebounded well — pushed the ball in transition and slowed them down with a solid effort on defense,” coach Clayton Buck said. “The boys came out attacking and looking to avenge the loss at Royal the night before.”

Wahluke was in Warden Tuesday, but the result of the contest was not available at time of press. The Warriors close out against Columbia-Burbank at home Friday. Wins against the Cougars and Coyotes will nail down the conference No.2 seed to the district playoffs. 

Girls

The Lady Warriors also rebounded from a lopsided loss at Royal, dominating college Place 53-38. Wahluke had two players finish in double-figures led by Jacky Hidalgo’s 16 points. Jacky Barajas added 15 points and 12 rebounds. Alex Bangs knocked down 9 points. Martha Baragan finished with 8 points and 12 boards.

“The Royal game was likely our worst effort of the season. We didn’t rebound well at all, and Royal had close to 20 points off of offensive rebounds, which is crazy,” coach Brock Anderson said. “But we got a really nice bounce-back effort for sure. You could sense the determination the girls had. It was really one of our most complete performances of the year. Jacky Barajas did her thing, attacking the basket and Martha had her best game of the year. She was awesome.”

It’s often said if you didn’t have bad luck, you wouldn’t have any luck at all and sadly to say, the Lady Warriors suffered another injury on the hardwood.

“Jessica Hernandez broke her hand,” Anderson said. “We just can’t catch a break health-wise, but the kids have a lot of desire and determination to battle through this.”

Two games remain on the regular season schedule for Wahluke. Only four teams qualify for postseason play, and with the Lady Warriors (5-5) up by just one game over Royal, the teams need to win out over Warden (4-8) and Columbia Burbank (2-10) to nail down the final berth.