By Richard Anderson

605 Sports

Led by Alyvia Padgett, the Lynx started strong with a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Padgett scoring eight points. Padgett, who scored a game-high 30 points, added 10 points in the second to give Brandon Valley a 36-26 halftime lead.

The Warriors came out in the third period with a 6-2 run to cut the lead to six, but Brandon Valley got a 3-pointer from Evie Hoff to get back up by 10. It was a see-saw affair again, as Washington cut the lead to six only to see the Lynx come back to its 10-point edge (51-41) on another 3-pointer by Hoff and a layup by Ava Kellenberger at the buzzer.

It was more of the same in the fourth. Washington kept the game at 8-10 points as Grace Peterson hit two free throws to make it a 60-52 game with 2:11 to play. The Lynx barely broke the Washington press but Amanda Lease was there for a layup.

But Jose Biteler nailed a 3-pointer eight seconds later and Dana Harpe hit a free throw to keep the Warriors in the game. Brandon Valley held off the Lady Warriors when Padgett hit four free throws to go back up double digits.

Padgett had a game to remember, hitting 10-of-19 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. She also had seven assists, seven steals and four rebounds.

Simply put, Zerr said Padgett is the leader of a balanced squad.

“How did she come up firing, going up against those double, triple teams in the post, she's just a star, that's who she is,” said Zerr. “She's an ultimate competitor. And when you have a kid like that as your floor leader, it's just really fun. It makes my job awesome to have kids that you know. And again, you talk about the stuff that nobody sees, the work, the effort works incredibly, incredibly hard at the game. She loves the game and loves to compete. I’m just really proud of her.”

Gwen Lease finished with 12 points for the Lynx and Gracie Salter added 11 points and seven rebounds. Brandon Valley was 25-of-54 from the field, hitting 5-of-17 3-pointers and 17-of-24 from the free-throw line.

O’Gorman handed the Lynx one of their two regular-season losses in the season opener 53-43.

Zerr said they will have their hands full.

“Yeah, they're a special basketball team,” he said. “They're undefeated and number one with their streaks and all those things, for so many reasons. They have great players. They have great coaches. We'll celebrate this one tonight and then we'll get right back to it, doing what we do.”

The Lady Warriors will look to earn the third-place trophy when they take on Rapid City Stevens at 6 p.m.

Rylan Kennett and Peterson led the way for Washington with 16 points each. Peterson also grabbed eight rebounds. Harpe finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and four steals,

As a team, the Lady Warriors hit just 12-of-46 from the field, but added 30-of-45 from the free-throw line.