SOUTH WAYNE – The taps were either running hot or cold for both the Black Hawk and Juda offenses on Thursday night, but the Warriors were a just little warmer as they held off the scrappy Panthers, 44-32, in a Six Rivers East girls’ basketball game at BHHS.
    The Lady Warriors (7-4 overall, 4-0 SRE) remained atop the league standings heading into Tuesday’s showdown at top-ranked Barneveld (11-0, 3-0). (The results of that game were not available at press time.)
    “These kids are all playing hard. Almost everybody who played scored tonight and everybody on the team did something to contribute to the victory. We’re trying to embrace that,” said Black Hawk head coach Michael Flanagan. “We’re going to play (Barneveld) and see what happens. We’ll give it the old college try.”
    Early on in Thursday’s game, it looked like the Warriors would run away with an easy victory after scoring the game’s first 13 points. But, the Panthers (5-5, 2-2) had other ideas.
    After falling behind 21-5, Juda finally got going. The Panthers forced five straight turnovers at one point with their full-court press, which ingnited a 10-0 run that spanned just a minute of game time as they closed the gap to 21-15 with 7:03 remaining in the first half.
    “We can’t be robotic when we run the press-breaker. We were throwing to spots instead of looking for the open player. Just really silly stuff. I had to remind them what to do,” stated Flanagan.
    Following a timeout to catch their breath, the Warriors went back to work on both ends of the floor, holding Juda scoreless the rest of the half while netting eight unanswered points to push their lead back to 29-15 at the intermission.
    “Let’s face it, that lead was very important as the game progressed,” admitted Flanagan.
    Senior Aleigha Sigafus opened the second half with a basket and a three-point play to extend the Black Hawk lead to 34-15.
    The Panthers caught fire on offense once again, scoring 12 straight points to cut the deficit back to 36-30.
    “It was a game where things went from really easy to really hard and it would change on a dime,” Flanagan explained.
    Sigafus ended the run with a basket with 3:33 to play, and the Warriors put the game away at the foul line by sinking six of their nine free throws over the final 2:05 of the game to seal their 22nd consecutive win over the Panthers.
    Sigafus finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and two steals to lead the Warriors, who made up for their 20 turnovers by recording nine steals and pulling down 38 rebounds– including 13 offensive boards.
    Sophomore guard Hannah Herbst added 10 points, a team-high eight rebounds and two steals, while senior Tatum Jackson tallied seven boards, four assists and two steals and sophomore Brianna Hagen chipped in with six rebounds and two steals.
    Sophomore Mackenzie Byrne scored eight of her 10 points in the first half to spark Juda’s first scoring run, and junior Chelsea Burkhalter added seven of her 10 points during the Panthers’ other run. 
    At Orfordville, on Saturday, Jan. 9, Aleigha Sigafus had a huge afternoon to lead the visiting Lady Warriors to  53-43 non-conference victory over the Parkview Vikings (4-7).
    Sigafus poured in a game-high 25 points and pulled down a team-best 15 rebounds for her third double-double of the season to lead the Warriors to their second win in three days.
    Hannah Herbst provided 13 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists, while Tatum Jackson contributed six points, nine assists, three steals and three rebounds to the victory effort.
    After Tuesday’s meeting with Barneveld, Black Hawk has non-conference games scheduled at Stockton on Friday, Jan. 15, and at home against Potosi on Monday, Jan. 18.

Juda………….  15   17 – 32
Black Hawk…  29   15 – 44
    Juda –Jordan 2, Goecks 5, Byrne 10, Burkhalter 10, Kammerer 3, Adkins 2. Totals – 14  1-7  32.
    Black Hawk – Brianna Hagen 1, Hannah Herbst 10, Aleigha Sigafus 17, Melissa Flanagan 3, Brooke Moore 4, Abby Baumgartner 5, Sammy Lovelace 4. Totals – 16  10-14  44.
    3-point goals– J 3 (Goecks 1, Burkhalter 2), BH 2 (Flanagan 1, Baumgartner 1). Total fouls– J 0, BH 0.
Black Hawk…  24   29 – 53
Parkview…….  17   26 – 43
    Black Hawk – Brianna Hagen 5, Hannah Herbst 13, Aleigha Sigafus 25, Brooke Moore 2, Abby Baumgartner 2, Tatum Jackson 6. Totals – 22  7-17  53.
    Parkview – Not available.
    3-point goals– BH 2 (Hagen 1, Herbst 1), P na.