Warren holds off late push by Lady Chargers

KERRY BARBOZA Sports Editor

The Champion girls basketball team hosted Warren Tuesday at Charger Gym for its 2023-24 home opener.

Warren pulled ahead by halftime and Champion rallied late but their comeback came up short against the Lady Warriors.

The 6A Northside school won by 10 points, 53-43, and dropped the Lady Chargers to 3-5 overall.

Champion is off until Monday when they visit Fredericksburg. On Tuesday they’ll play Stevens at Taylor Field House before taking a break for Thanksgiving.

In Tuesday’s home opener, Warren was ahead by 5 points late in the fourth quarter but Champion hit a 3-pointer with 2:46 remaining and cut the lead to two points at 45-43, forcing a timeout by Warren.

Warren answered with a 3-pointer of its own with 2:30 left to push the lead back to five points at 48-43 and Champion wasn’t able to score the rest of the way.

After hitting the 3 to get them to within two points, the Chargers had a turnover, missed two free throws and then misfired on its final four 3-point attempts.

Champion started fouling to stop the clock and Warren made enough at the stripe to pull away. The Warriors went to the line eight times in the final 1:54 and hit its first five at the line to build the lead to 10.

Bralyn Gault led the Chargers with 10 points, Ainsley Darter nailed three 3s to finish with 9 points, Abby Sommer, Adriana Barreiro and Hailey Winn all netted 6 points, while Taylor Burk and Addison Darter both chipped in with 3 points.