On Tuesday, the undefeated Covenant girls basketball team found themselves in a grueling defensive battle with a Western Albemarle squad trying to claw its way to its first win.
The Eagles used tough defense and a timely putback by Katy Varaksa to knock off the Warriors and claim a 22-20 victory.
“Nothing was going through my head at that moment,” Varaksa, a sophomore, said. “I honestly didn’t expect to get it, but I did. I saw the ball, I saw the basket, and I put it up. I didn’t even think.”
Varaksa’s heroics came at just the right time as Western had taken their largest lead of the game at four early in the fourth, thanks to a Dylan Mitchell and one with under six to go. Covenant managed to tie it back at 20 all with 3:23 left, but Western’s Ava Ewen turned all the momentum back to the Warriors. She nailed a huge three to tie the game at 15 at the end of the third and scored on a tough drive to give Western its first lead since 5-4 the first quarter.
The Warriors and Eagles exchanged missed threes and Covenant called timeout to settle things down. The Eagles turned it over on the ensuing possession and fouled Western’s Kayleigh Long missed the front end of a one and one and Covenant called timeout with 21.2 seconds left to set up Varaksa’s bucket.
Delaney Poindexter got a good look from three but the shot clanged off the rim, right into Varaksa’s hands and the sophomore delivered.
Western had a chance to win it, finding Ewen in the corner off an inbounds play with six seconds left. Ewen’s three point attempt was partially blocked by Poindexter and Kerrigan Poindexter secured the rebound and the win, which pushes the Eagles to 6-0.
Covenant led 7-6 after one and 11-9 at the half. Covenant didn’t trail the entire second and most of the third, but Western hung around all the way to the final buzzer.
As a team, Covenant shot four-of-seven from the line while Western went three-for-eleven. Both teams committed and caused numerous turnovers throughout the game, making for the physical, low scoring battle it was.
For Western (0-5), Mitchell led the Warriors with seven. Long and Even both chipped in five in the effort.
For Covenant, Varaksa led the Eagles with eight, and the Poindexters scored five each.
The two teams will lock up again on December 28th in the Daily Progress Tournament first round.
