Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren’s Emma Roell shoots while being defended by Cathedral Prep’s Mia Washburn during Thursday’s Region 7 girls basketball game at Warren Area High School.

The Warren girls basketball team hosted Cathedral Prep Thursday evening and fell to the Ramblers by a score of 55-35 in Region 7 action.

The Dragons got off to a solid start and were leading for the first five minutes of the game, 7-4.

The Ramblers would fight back and take a 12-9 lead after the first quarter.

A back-and-forth second quarter saw the Dragons only down 23-16 heading into the half, still within striking distance.

“I think our offense transition looked good,” said head coach Jenny Phillips. “Getting the ball up the floor quickly and driving to the hoop and drawing fouls certainly got them a little frustrated.”

Unfortunately for the home team, a strong offensive threat and good transition defense would allow the Ramblers to score 20 points in the quarter, en route to the victory.

“Our zone defense is coming along and the girls are executing on the end. We still have some work to do, but I love our progress,” Phillips said. “I’m proud of the girls for their effort tonight, but I have to mention my freshman, Molly Richards. She had a big task tonight and she stepped up in a big way and handled the pressure well. It’s definitely overwhelming to play against a team like Prep as a freshman, but she showed up tonight and I couldn’t be more proud. We need to clean up our errors, but overall continue our work from tonight.”

Peyton Wotorson had a big night for the Dragons, leading all scorers with 19 points. Natalie Spano had 18 points for Prep.

In junior varsity play, the Ramblers defeated the Dragons 58-17. Abby Roell led the way with 5 points for Warren.

The Dragons next host DuBois Central Catholic on Saturday at Warren Area High School. Junior varsity starts at 12:30 p.m. with varsity to follow at 2 p.m.