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Sports

Double Victory For The Warhawks

Madison Girls Cruise to 50-39 Win Against Jefferson; Madison Boys Win 33-30 On Senior Night

The Madison Warhawks girls varsity basketball team will head into next week’s Liberty District tournament riding a three-game win streak after defeating the Jefferson Colonials 50-39 Friday night. 

With Jefferson’s defense double-teaming Madison’s three 6-foot starters, sophomore guard Megan LeDuc was able to free herself up to hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter, quieting the fans that packed the bleachers on Jefferson’s senior night.

“The shots gave our team life early on,” LeDuc said. “Sometimes we start off slow so it helped pick the pace up.”

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Her teammates fed off her hot hand to give the visitors an early 23-7 first-half lead following a 17-3 scoring run. The Colonials did everything they could to keep pace, including freshman forward Care Shoaibi getting down on her knees like a dog and barking to distract the Warhawks during a Colonials inbounds play.

Despite their attempts, though, the Colonials were unable to stop the visitors in the first half. The Warhawks hit six of their first seven shots from beyond the arc, and the Colonials could not cut the deficit to single digits the rest of the game.

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“Anytime you play against a talented team like Madison, you can’t afford to give any shots up like we did,” Jefferson coach Victor Chen said.

With Jefferson needing to watch out for Madison’s sharp shooting in the second half, there was more space for the Warhawk frontcourt players to do damage. Senior forward Carmen Mann used her height to score 15 points in the game. Ten of her points came in the second half when the game opened up for her.

“Me and [Warhawks forward] Anna Jay have been playing together for a while, and they only had one big player,” Mann said, “so we were able to post up over their girls a lot and shoot pretty easily.”

The height advantage didn’t stop the Colonials from fighting all night defensively and their pressure caused turnovers from the Warhawks, resulting in an early 5-0 third-quarter run. Jefferson senior captain Shannon Eriksson led the Colonial attack all night, scoring 21 points for the home team.

“We had a pretty good game plan and it helped that they went cold for a little bit, too,” Chen said. “But Shannon was able to keep us in the game. She has a real talent and I can’t say enough about Shannon’s play.”

Despite Jefferson’s efforts, they were never able to fully stop the Warhawks, who stretched the lead to 21 points in the fourth quarter. .

“Wins are wins and they are all important,” Madison coach Kirsten Roberts said. “We’re going to feed off this in heading into the district tournament.”

Warhawk Boys Pull Out Win In Final Seconds

Free throws sealed the win for Madison Boys Basketball in the final seconds of the fourth quarter on Friday night, giving the Warhawks a 33-30 victory on their senior night.

Seniors Tim Alexander, Jack Baule, Ian Doyle, P.D. Knipe, Daniel McNerny and Kavan Ranasinghe were honored on the court with family before the start of the game.

Behind roars from the "Sixth Man" cheering section, the Warhawks stayed neck and neck all game, entering the half with a 17-14 lead.

Free throws consistently put points on the board for the Warhawks in the second half, and gave the Warhawks the final two points they needed for their three-point victory.

Doyle and Junior Nate Favero lead the Warhawks with six points each.

For video and photos from the boys game, check back later this weekend for a story on the "Sixth Man," Madison's student cheering section.

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