Every January BJ Mayer’s squad faces the Little Hawks for what has become some of the best basketball in the state over the years. The Trojans have been able to steal only two out of the last five matchups, including West’s first win of the season on Dec. 18. Cross-town rivalry veterans Audrey Koch ’21 and Matayia Tellis ’21 had a chance to take down the Little Hawks twice in the regular season for the first time since 2015. With the help of a City High technical and two big free throws, the Trojans swept City on the year with a 57-52 win on Jan. 22.

Plenty of turnovers for both teams and some poor transition defense got the best of the Trojans only a couple of minutes into the first. That was until Tellis welcomed herself back with a pair of threes to tie it up at 6 halfway through the first. Anna Prouty ’23 got herself three points of her own the hard way to give the Trojans their first lead of the game. Going into the second West trailed 14-12.

Back-to-back Little Hawk buckets gave City a six-point lead two minutes into the second. Koch took things into her hands and scored five straight to go along with a bucket from Meena Tate ’23 to put the Trojans on top 19-18 near the end of the second. Unable to stop the pick and pop three, West found themselves with their biggest deficit of the night going into halftime down 27-20.

Six straight points from Koch and Tellis to open the second half cut City’s halftime lead to one. In what could be her last game against the Little Hawks, Koch knocked down back-to-back threes in hopes of ending on a high note on the eastside. The Providence College commit’s seven-point third quarter helped lead the Trojans to a 38-37 lead with two minutes left in the third. Another set of Little Hawk threes to cap off an 11-2 run put City up by five going into the fourth.

The Trojans answered with a 10-0 run of their own to go along with a Tellis and-one putting West up 52-47 with under three minutes to play. Mayer resulted to the well-known offense of keep away in order to run more than a minute off the clock up 52-50 late in the fourth. With only 23 seconds left, the Little Hawks secured an offensive rebound down three and immediately called a timeout which resulted in a technical foul. A timeout that they didn’t have, Koch knocked down both technical foul free throws and called it a night. West improved to 6-3 after defeating City.

The girls basketball team will be right back in action tomorrow afternoon against Marion.

Gallery • 10 Photos

Alyssa Skala

The Trojans huddle in the middle of the court waiting for a ref to call the foul Jan. 22.