WALHALLA — After it looked like a closed deal earlier in the evening, the Walhalla High School girls’ basketball team had trouble putting West-Oak to sleep on Friday night.

Despite a strong second half surge by the Warriors, the Razorbacks (11-10, 5-4 Skyline AA) ultimately emerged with a 57-51 victory over their cross-county rival, which split the season series following the Warriors’ win in Westminster in December.

West-Oak trailed 30-14 at halftime, but clawed its way back into the game trailing by only single digits in the closing minutes which made for a nail biting conclusion.

“It was about as tense as you can get,” said Walhalla head coach Cheryl Murphy. “A game between West-Oak and Walhalla that was a six-point game with a minute left on the clock is as tense as it gets.”

Walhalla took the momentum early in the game after taking a 12-7 first quarter lead. Kristen Hood hit a jump shot to put the Razors up 14-7, and Tish Winchester stole a pass on the Warriors’ next possession, taking it the hoop for a score and foul. She then hit her free throw to push the lead to 17-7 on the way to the big halftime lead.

But the second half saw the Warriors come back, thanks in large part for making their way to the free throw line early and often.

“Fouling was certainly the issue,” Murphy said. “We had to pull up our pressure defense because all of our guards were in foul trouble. We kept fouling and they kept scoring from the foul line.”

Throughout the course of the game, the Warriors took 46 free throws, converting on 23 of them, which accounted for just under half of their entire scoring output.

One of the biggest trips to the line came from Kalyn Stevenson, who brought her team with 10 points at 52-42 midway through the fourth quarter after converting a pair of free throws following her steal of a Walhalla pass.

West-Oak got as close as 56-51 with 34 seconds left after a steal and hoop by Morgan Black, who finished with a game high 21 points.

But on the ensuing possession, Danielle Stone was able to knock down a free throw of her own for Walhalla to help hang on for the victory.

Both teams will be in action again on Tuesday, with West-Oak hosting Crescent and Walhalla traveling to Pendleton. Both games will get underway at 6 p.m.

Walhalla 57, West-Oak 51

W-O 7 7 15 22 — 51

WHS 12 18 14 13 — 57

Walhalla (57) — Winchester 15, Stone 12, Wyatt 12, Hood 10, Barker 4, Smith 4.

West-Oak (51) — Black 21, Pearson 12, Stevenson 7, Teague 7, Alexander 2, Moore 1, Williams 1.