Girls basketball had itself a week at Winston Academy.
While the junior high team went over to Canton Academy and brought home a district title, the high school team put the finishing touches on a regular season title itself and is now preparing for its own district championship. Coach Gary Beals took over the high school girls team last season and has seen tremendous growth in just one year.
To get to the No. 1 spot, Beals and his team were going to have to avenge the only loss in district that they have had this year. The Lady Patriots dropped a game early in the schedule to Oak Hill but got the last laugh in a 55-35 blowout win.
“The difference in the first time we played them is they got to the free throw line. They like to get downhill and attack instead of shooting the three ball and we did a good job of stopping that. We fed the post and went inside more.”
An incredible second half on the defensive end made all the difference for the Lady Pats. It was a competitive first half with WA winning the first quarter and Oak Hill the second as the Lady Pats held a narrow 26-25 lead at the break.
In the third quarter, WA allowed just one point and pushed that lead to 13 before putting the foot on the gas pedal with a 17-7 final frame to win the game by 20 points and secure the No. 1 seed. 12 points were scored by each of Julia Gregory and Layton Nowell while Chloe Hillyer poured in another 10 points in the win.
Senior Night came for Hillyer, Nowell and AnnCarter Perkins on Friday night as the Lady Pats hosted Tri-County Academy and the trio had an opportunity to end their playing careers at home in style. WA built a 13-4 lead after the first quarter and never had much trouble in the 44-25 win.
Julia Gregory was the star of the show as the junior had 18 points in the game hitting a couple of 3-pointers and making all four of her free throws.
With the two wins last week, WA moved to 14-8 on the year and finished the regular season 5-1 in district play. They will be the top seed in the district tourney this week at Oak Hill beginning with a semifinal game on Thursday afternoon against the winner of Winona Christian and Canton. A win will have them playing in the championship game Friday night at 5:30 p.m.
To see his players wrap up the No. 1 seed after a hard-fought regular season, it meant a lot to the veteran head man.
“It was a pretty special moment. We got them to believe and buy in and the next two years is going to be even better. But we have a chance to make a run this year,” Beals said. “We’ve got to be patient and not have the wrong people shooting the ball this week. It’s going to be a tough gym to play in at Oak Hill.”
Boys
It was another tough week for the Patriot boys team as they fell in two ball games to close out the regular season.
It started with the Oak Hill game that the Pats would drop 43-36. It was a defensive ball game in the first half with the Raider clinging to a 13-11 advantage at the half and it was just 22-18 after three quarters. Business picked up in the fourth with both teams either matching or just missing the mark that they had set through three quarters, but the Pats couldn’t get the stops needed to get over the hump.
Ky Kirk led WA in points with 13.
WA fell down by double digits on Friday night against ERA with the visiting Pats leading 27-17 at the break. The home team would fight back, however, and outscore ERA in the fourth quarter 20-14 before it was too late.
“We can knock on the door, but we can’t knock it down. We’re in just about every game until the last few minutes,” Beals said. “We’ve got a chance to make the playoffs. We have to beat Carroll which we’ve already done twice. We’ve got to get after it and make some shots.”
ERA held Bryson Wright to just four points in the game, but Omar Scott finished with 15 points and Jackson Hudson had all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter to give the team a chance.
WA enters the district tournament at 2-12 and 1-5 in the league. The Patriots played Carroll Academy in the first game of the tournament on Tuesday at Oak Hill. If they won, they would play the No. 1 team in Canton on Thursday night with a championship game Friday around 6:45.
The Consolation Game is at 4:15.
