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The Springwood varsity girls fought to the end against the top seeded Lee-Scott Lady Warriors in the region tournament, but the Lady Wildcats couldn’t contain the Lee-Scott perimeter game in their 56-44 loss on Thursday.

The Wildcats returned star point guard Tori Patillo from injury, and she led Springwood with 24 points.

Despite the loss, Springwood head coach Lisa Sampson feels like her girls played well.

“That was probably the best first half of basketball that we’ve played,” Sampson said.

“Lee-Scott is a great shooting team, and we talked about it at halftime. You have to contest every one of them. When we did that, good things happened. They reversed the ball well on us, and we just didn’t adjust to what we needed to do. I was super proud of what our girls did. The future is bright for this team. They showed me a lot today.”

The first quarter was a back and forth battle, but it was clear that the Lady Wildcats would need to rely on Patillo.

After going down 19-7, Patillo and EJ Matthews combined for five points to close the lead to 21-12 at the end of the quarter.

Patillo continued her strong half with four back to back points at the end of the second quarter to close the Lee-Scott lead to 29-24.

Springwood looked like they were starting to take control of the game as the Lady Wildcats opened with baskets from Carolina Van Schoor, Madison Robinson and Matthews to close the lead to two.

The Lady Warriors couldn’t stop knocking down threes in the third quarter, and Patillo was held to three points in the quarter to extend the Lee-Scott lead to 40-33 at the end of the quarter.

Lee-Scott hit six threes in the fourth quarter to seal the game, but Sampson was thrilled with how her point guard played.

“It’s great to have Tori back,” Sampson said.

“She just takes us to another level. She’s a ninth grader, so I hope these college coaches are taking notice already. She’s going to be playing at the next level one day.”
The Wildcats will now prepare for the state tournament, where they await their next opponent.

“We’re just going to build off what we did today,” Sampson said.

“I think we’re playing our best basketball. We have to continue to compete. We have to focus on ourselves.”