It was a tough week for Gary Beals’ Winston Academy Patriots getting back into the full swing of things after the Holidays and it ended with three losses.
The first two came in district play as WA had two tough matchups against Leake Academy and East Rankin. Winston struggled to score points against the Rebels in the first game of the week as Leake brought in a dominant 55-22 victory in Madden.
Omar Scott had seven points as no Patriot was able to get in double figures.
“We didn’t show up,” Beals said of the loss. “We weren’t mentally there against Leake. We wanted to go out there and prove them wrong and got caught up in the emotions.”
Against East Rankin, the fight was better from Beals’ team, but they still came up short in a 53-43 loss. Scott led the team again scoring 17 points and notching a double-double with his 14 rebounds getting nine of those on the offensive end. Scott also had four steals in the defeat.
Bryson Wright made his return to the court after dealing with an ankle injury and had 10 points.
On Saturday and a day after taking on East Rankin, WA made the trip over to Ackerman for the Mid-Mississippi Challenge early that morning. The Patriots had a chance to go up against Class 2A MHSAA team East Webster.
The Wolverines got a lead early and kept it in a 56-35 win. Double digit missed free throws tell the story for the Patriots as it kept them out of reach.
“I knew they were better than us, but I wanted our guys to give us a chance. We had to make free throws to do that and we didn’t,” Beals said. “They get after it, we just can’t make shots.”
WA is now 10-7 on the season with a 2-3 district record. The Patriots are back in district action this week taking on Lamar School and one of the state’s top teams in Simpson Academy both on the road this week on Tuesday and Friday respectively.
Girls
One thing that Beals has said about his girls team each and every week is he’s proud of how they continue to grow.
The Lady Patriots took two conference games on the chin but bounced back to end the week in the Mid-Mississippi Challenge giving them more to build on moving ahead.
“We’re improving and buying in,” Beals said of his girls. “At the end of the Winston game, I thought we took a big step. We closed one out and that’s a sign that we’re making progress. I told them let’s go win the game instead of waiting for them to take it from us. I thought we did a good job of that.”
The game against a good East Webster team was a great example of how much the team has grown. After losing to East Rankin on Friday night, the team turned around and played a 9 a.m. game against the Lady Wolverines.
WA led most of the way but the pressure was on in the fourth quarter. EWHS hit a 3-pointer in the final 3 minutes to tie the game only to see WA get some key free throws down the stretch and win the game 47-44. Hailey Bradford led the way with 17 points.
“We played hard (vs. East Rankin) and I was worried about our energy against East Webster,” Beals said. After the first couple of possessions, we started clicking and we got it to our bell cow, Bradford. Everything we do is built around her.”
Earlier in the week, WA had a tough challenge with Leake Academy and East Rankin. The Lady Rebels of Leake look like the team to beat in the state yet again this year and they were able to roll in a 60-21 victory.
No one on the team scored more than Bradford’s five points.
Against East Rankin, the Lady Pats had the same outcome as the boys falling in a 10-point loss, 49-39. Bradford scored over half of the team’s points with 24 in the game on 10-of-17 shooting and had 10 rebounds. Madi Lee had four steals and Julia Gregory seven points and three assists.
WA is now 12-7 and 1-4 in district play ahead of the two matchups this week.
