The #6 Central DeWitt Sabers (23-1) will face the #3 Norwalk Warriors (21-2) in the first round of the Class 4A Girls State Tournament. The game will take place on March 3 at 1:30 p.m. at the Casey’s Center.

Both teams have only faced off against each other once. Last year, the Warriors won on a comeback layup from current senior Pearl Brown. Also, the game was in the first round of the state tournament. In that game, the Birmingham sisters combined for 37 points and seven rebounds.

This season, sophomore Braylyn Birmingham became the fastest player in Warrior history to reach 1000 total points scored.

“It’s a great accomplishment, but I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else,” she said. “My teammates [and] my coaches mean everything to me.”

Birmingham called the senior class “leaders” on the team.  

“We’re just trying to do it for them and give them one season to remember their senior year,” she said.

Finally, Braylyn said that the coaches this year were great.

“We have the best coaching staff in the state,” she said. “They’re amazing. They put us all in the right positions at the right time.”

Fellow sophomore teammate Makenna Roeder starts alongside Braylyn, who is at the center. Roeder said that she believes that the Warriors could make it far into the tournament.

“If we keep playing like we do and scoring 83 points like we had tonight, we can push towards a state title,” she said recently. “That’s always our goal.”

Makenna also sees the senior class as leaders, such as Ava Carlson, Hannah Overholser, and Pearl Brown.

“Everytime we aren’t doing our best, we also try to pick each other up,” Roeder said. “Always just being able to pick each other up is very important, just to keep the game going.”

Live Norwalk Spear coverage will be provided on the Instagram page, such as score updates and photos.