After a 51-44 loss on Tuesday night against the third ranked Lakewood team, the Warriors are hopeful for a special season. This pre-league game showed the team that they can hang with tough competition. Lakewood has two junior twins that are 6’4” and challenged the Warriors whose tallest player is a mere 5’11”. The Lady Warriors were in the game the entire time and had many missed opportunities down the stretch. Knowing the Warriors missed so many opportunities has to be encouraging for a team that has high aspirations for the season. Senior captain Macy Ziegler led the way with 10 points and the other senior captain Maddie Matthews was the second leading scorer with nine points. The schedule doesn’t get much easier as the Warriors play two more games against top-five teams. Today, they play the fifth ranked Highlands Ranch Falcons at 7pm at HRHS.

Next week they play the second best team in the state, Ralston Valley. After the tough three game stretch, the Lady Warriors should know where they stand against the toughest competition in the state. The team knows the importance of the next two games, especially captain Macy Ziegler. “They are pretty important,” Ziegler said. “Not for us to win necessarily but to prove that we can compete with the best teams.” If they can escape with one win in the next two games, it would be a huge confidence booster for a team that couldn’t seem to beat tough competition last season.

With six returning varsity players and a core of young talented players, the Warriors believe they have what it takes to go far come late February. The returning players for the Warriors hope to capitalize on the experiences they had from last season.

Highlands Ranch lost to ThunderRidge last season in the state championship game, the same team that knocked out and ended the Warriors season in the Sweet Sixteen. Highlands Ranch has seven returning varsity players from the state runner-up team last season including their second leading scorer, junior Tommi Olsen. She averaged 12.6 points per game last season and is averaging 15.5 points per game so far this season for the 3-1 Falcons.

This is a big game for both 3-1 teams with high aspirations for the 2016-17 season. It should be an exciting and energetic game as the Warriors look to prove themselves to a strong and distinguished Highlands Ranch team.