The struggling 7-9 Millard West Wildcats took on the dominant 17-1 Omaha Westside Warriors on Friday, Feb. 4 at home, which the Wildcats are undefeated at home.

Westside came into this game on a 16 game win streak and averaging 76.4 points per game. Millard West had 50.4 points per game and on a three game losing streak. The Wildcats aren’t exactly at full strength with multiple players out with injury.

“We’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries this year so we weren’t at full strength,” senior Reese Kolar said. “With [senior] Chase Hultman, [junior] Zac Grandgenette and [junior] Cole Butler out we just did our best with what we had.”

The Warriors started off hot with a three point make by senior Reggie Thomas. After trading missed shots, the Wildcats were able to get their scoring started with a layup in the paint by junior Cole Kirschner. Westside scored on two consecutive possessions and the and-1 after a Millard West turnover. The Wildcats still attempted to fight back with a Kirschner three pointer. The Warriors cashed in four consecutive three pointers due to more turnovers and travel calls from the Wildcats. A senior Avery Moore buzzer beater ended the first quarter Wildcats 8-Warriors 20.

The Wildcats scored first in the second quarter with a hook shot from sophomore Peyton Moore in the paint and a Warrior turnover led to senior Jessie Cauble scoring a three pointer. The Warriors answered back with a three pointer of their own by Thomas. The turnovers continued to plague the Wildcats as Westside continued to get easy points in transition and dominated from behind the arc. The Warriors ended the half with a 17-2 run and led the Wildcats 17-42.

“In the locker room we just talked about how we needed to keep working hard and cut the score in half,” Cauble said. “We needed to win the mini battles throughout the game and not let them speed up.”

The third quarter reflected a lot from the first two. It started off with a Moore turnover and an easy lay up for senior Logan Wilson. Westside continued to hit their shots and forced a timeout after scoring seven consecutive points in the first minute and a half. Millard West scored their first points of the half with a Kirschner lay up. Both teams traded missed shots and turnovers consecutively before Thomas broke the streak for the Warriors scoring three times in the paint. Senior Charlie Davis cashed in two three pointers, bringing his total on the night to five three pointers. Before the end of the quarter, Cauble scored another three pointer to make it a 40 point game favoring Westside, Wildcats 25 – Warriors 65.

Omaha Westside, now with most of their bench playing in the game, led comfortably going into the start of the 4th quarter. They continued to increase their lead with a two and three pointer and Millard West answered with two of their own. The game ended with two Wildcat layups after a long line of Warrior missed shots before being dribbled down to the last second of the game with the final score being Warriors 70 – Wildcats 31

“Westside is very good,” head coach Bill Morrison said. “We knew we would have to play very well to upset them. We learned a few things from that game and we are going to work on fixing them.” 

They would go on to extend their losing streak the next day with a loss to Gretna and the following week against Millard North. They take on Omaha Bryan in their final home game of the season.