WARDEN — The Warden Cougars (3-10) defeated the Granger Spartans 41-39 on Friday after pulling off a second-half comeback. For head coach Emily Cox, it was a rollercoaster of emotions.  

“Fun and not fun all the same time,” Cox said. “We kind of got ourselves in a hole in the first half, and at halftime, we just told them to keep battling and keep working hard and try and dig ourselves out of it, and the girls did. They came out, and they battled.” 

The Cougars found themselves behind early against the Spartans. After trading a couple of three pointers to start the game, Granger built a strong 22-14 lead by halftime. After a halftime pep talk, the Cardiac Cougars climbed back in the game by the end of the third quarter, only trailing 27-32. Warden outscored Granger 14-7 in the fourth to squeeze out the close win at home.  

“The girls really dug in, and they wanted (to win) this game,” Cox said.  

The first half presented Warden with some new challenges. After a hot start by both teams that had them tied 8-8 within the first few minutes, Granger implemented a defensive strategy the Cougars had not seen before, Cox said.  

At times, Warden struggled to settle down on offense, and Granger capitalized to take the lead into halftime.  

“They run some funky defenses the girls aren't used to seeing, we'd kind of seen it on film, and we weren't sure exactly what they were going to throw at us tonight. It took us a while to adjust to that, and once we did, we kind of figured out what the game plan was and how we needed to attack. The girls made that switch and came back swinging,” Cox said.  

Warden came out of halftime focused on protecting the ball, trusting each other, and executing the game plan. Piper Cox hit a three-pointer early in the third quarter to make it 17-27, but also provided them with the spark they needed. Slowly, they climbed back into the game and cut the deficit to 23-29 with four minutes left in the third.

As they found more success in the paint, they only trailed by five points heading into the fourth quarter. 

Piper got open for another three-pointer early in the fourth as each team went on a scoring run. At the halfway mark, they were tied 37-37, but Warden slowly took the momentum.  

Kaleigh Secrist hit a clutch three-pointer to put Warden ahead 41-39 with 3:15 to go in the game. Shortly after, she also chased down a Granger player to block their shot and give the Cougars the ball back to run down more clock time.  

“If you can get your inside game going, it really opens up your outside game. We have a couple girls that can hit some shots, just that little switch was able to free up (Secrist) and let her get some free looks,” Cox said.  

In the final minutes of the game, both teams fell into a defensive chess match, and Warden was able to hold off a last-second shot by Granger that would have tied the game. While the situation provided a lot of anxiety, Cox said the Cougars have practiced for moments like this, so they felt prepared.  

On Saturday, Warden traveled to Mabton. However, results for that game were not available at the time of press. Though Cox is optimistic, Warden can carry the momentum from this win into future games.  

“I'm hoping that the girls just take this energy and this momentum and carry it into that game. They have a couple solid players, but I think if we can get them stopped on defense, that'll open up the possibility for us to get a win,” she said.  

BOX SCORE: 

GRNG: 14-11-7-7: 39
WRDN: 8-6-13-14: 41 

    Warden’s Kaleigh Secrist (1) and Piper Cox (14) attempt to block a Granger player’s shot during their game Friday.
  

    The Cougars’ Kenzie Nelson (12) shoots a free throw during their game against Granger Friday. Nelson drew several fouls throughout the game to get to the free throw line.