COLUMBIA – Friday night the Warriors travelled to play the Wildcats of Columbia High School.

This non-conference game was the first game back from exams for the Warriors and the first of a five-game road trip.  The Warriors last played on Monday night when they stormed by Pungo, but since that victory the LA squad had been off the court concentrating on mid-term exams.

With the last exam having been completed only a few hours before, the Warriors looked to shake out the cobwebs against the Wildcats.

Entering the game, the LA squad held a three games to one advantage over the Columbia squad during the past two seasons.  However, both teams entered this game with extremely young teams, so it figured to be a good matchup.  And, a good matchup it was. In the end, Columbia slipped by Lawrence by a final of 44-38.

Despite the dangerous playing conditions created by a basketball court that had not been sealed in at least two years, both squads played hard and with determination.

Down 12-8 after the first quarter, the Warriors cut into that lead by one to go into the half down three at 21-18.

Offensive rebounding (17 for the game) kept the Wildcats in the lead over the first two periods, and controlling the boards was the point of discussion in the Warriors’ locker room.

The LA squad responded over the first three possessions of the third quarter as they boxed out all five players on the Columbia squad each time.  The result was a run of five points by the Warriors that took them from down three to up two at 23-21.

Unfortunately, the Wildcats responded and outscored the Warriors 8-4 over the remainder of the quarter to take a 29-27 lead into the fourth quarter.

The first few minutes of the fourth spelled doom for the Warriors as they were unable to generate any offense against the Columbia zone.

Still, the Warriors went small and picked up the pressure over the last few minutes, and that seemed to give the Wildcats trouble while the LA guards began to find openings in the Columbia defense.  Unfortunately, it was too little too late as the Wildcats sealed the win at the free throw line and outscored the Warriors 15-11 in the stanza to take the victory by a score of 44-38.