Whitehall’s Senior Night started off with a bang for basketball players MJ Dunbar, Ashley Figueroa, and Madison Pagan when all three seniors scored in the opening minutes of the Zephyrs’ game against William Allen on Jan. 30 at Whitehall.

Figueroa was determined to hit a 3-pointer and did, one that brought the Zephyr bench and Whitehall fans to their feet.

“She’s a fan favorite. Everybody on the team loves her so much, so it was good to see her out there. I think [the seniors] brought a lot of energy to start the game, but I made the decision to go with the other girls that we’ve been playing, and I just don’t know if that was the right decision, so that’s something I’ll lose sleep over tonight,” said Whitehall coach James Middleton after the Zephyrs’ 55-47 loss to the Canaries.

A 26-26 halftime score led to a frantic third quarter with only one bucket in the first four minutes by Allen forward Kaley Martin.

Whitehall’s Keona Spooner and Jaylene Wilson forced a turnover by Allen’s Tishona Spurgeon and the teams proceeded to trade buckets into the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to stick with the game plan. We wanted to force the middle. We knew they were trying to take our point guard (Dunbar) out of the game, so we wanted to find a way to get it into the middle and find open shots for her. Unfortunately, we did miss a few, but I think our girls did a good job of executing. We just didn’t make the layups,” said Middleton.

Allen’s Kimberly Arias and Layla Sweatte put up four quick points while Whitehall’s shots weren’t falling until Zephyr center Jade Alvarez scored off an inbound ball. Allen’s Mya Mackenzie and Martin had a 3-point play apiece, ones that hurt Whitehall.

The Zephyrs turned on their full-court press after Dunbar scored, and Wilson hit a 3-pointer after Spooner intercepted an Allen pass.

Allen led, 47-45, with 1:40 remaining in the game, but Martin sank two free throws before Whitehall turned the ball over on a travel and was forced to foul as Martin sank two more.

“You have to give Allen a lot of credit. They did a great job defensively, and they forced us to do things we were uncomfortable with. We wanted to be patient, but we did force up some shots here and there,” Middleton said. “This one hurts. Allen is our rivalry game. This is one we thought we would have. We definitely wanted it for our seniors, and I think we did everything we could to win that game. You just have to give a lot of credit to Allen. They made the plays down the stretch.”

Dunbar had 11 points, Figueroa tallied 3 points, and Pagan added 2 points on a layup.

“Morgan’s an incredible leader, she’s very coachable, she wants to play at the next level. She’s the leader of our team, the head of the snake, the heartbeat of our team,” Middleton said. “She plays super hard, and even when she makes mistakes, she never hangs her head. She’s a really, really good kid, and she’s all that you could ask for in a senior.”