When a team is on a winning streak, they can always expect to get their opponent's best effort to try and stop that streak from continuing.
Westcliff men's basketball team was on a four-game winning streak as they hosted Saint Katherine last Saturday.
The Warriors encountered a lot of resistance and after 40 minutes were handed the loss, 73-60.
The loss put an end to the Warriors' season-high four-game winning streak but more importantly was in the way that they lost.
They had been playing great basketball and looked like a team that had found their stride at a perfect time in the season.
On Saturday, Westcliff found themselves playing catch-up within the first couple minutes of the first half.
After seven minutes they were down 11-4, because of a lot of missed contested shots.
But the Warriors didn't back down and provided resistance of their own as they slowly kept closing in on the Firebirds.
With 7:16 left in the first half, the Warriors were able to tie the game up at 16 a piece.
But missed shots and turnovers hurt them as Saint Katherine went on a huge run to close out the first half.
After 20 minutes of play, Westcliff was now looking at a double-digit deficit, 34-20.
In the second half, the Warriors tried to raise their level of play but the Firebirds met them head-on and didn't let go of the lead that was created.
The scoring was even in the second half which didn't allow the Warriors to chip away at the Firebird's lead.
With the loss, Westcliff will go down to fourth place in the Cal Pac Conference with a record of (6-4)
Every game becomes important to them if they want to make a run for the second seed once the season is over.
A couple of areas that will need to be improved on are the free throw shooting and high turnover numbers.
The Warriors missed 14 free throws which resulted in a team efficiency of 53% from the line.
They also turned the ball over 16 times, to Saint Katherine's 10.
Gary Harris had himself a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Abdul Abdullah scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds before fouling out.
Up next for the Warriors they will take on the number one team in the conference, Antelope Valley.
The game will be this Thursday, Jan. 26, at 5:30 PM.
