Being back on the court full time feels like a blessing for the Winston Academy Lady Patriots as they’ve come through two separate COVID-19breaks.
Last week they had a chance to play two challenging teams and, though they came away with two losses, coach Kelley Greer liked the progress of her team.
The Lady Pats started by traveling up Highway 25 to play the rival Starkville Academy Lady Volunteers and were in for a battle against the home team. WA went back and forth with SA in the first half trailing 14-12 at the end of the first and 25-23 at halftime before the Lady Vols got some separation in the third and fourth quarters and WA ran out of gas with just 11points in the second half for the 48-34 defeat.
“We haven’t been able to practice or play because of COVID and so my girls aren’t as in shape as we need to be. I thought we played extremely hard,” Greer said. “It’s probably one of the best games that we’ve played as ahigh school. I’m not happy with the loss, but I’m happy with how they played and fought so hard.”
Lana Boatner had 11 points in the game and Micha Carr had 10as the two seniors carried the load offensively with the loss of two starters in Bella Hillyer who is out of the season with an injury and Hailey Bradford who missed the game with an injury of her own.
Without those two players against Bayou later in the week, the Lady Pats found the going tough again in a 46-33 loss to Bayou Academy. Anncarter Perkins is filling in a starting role with Hillyer out and scored a team-high12 points but there wasn’t enough elsewhere as only five players entered the scoring column in the game.
“We’ve gone three weeks without practicing as a team,” Greer said. “It’s made a huge difference. We’re going to practice over the break and we’re going to be stronger.”
It was also a difficult week for the boys as SA control edits game from tip to finish in a 63-10 blowout win. The Vols led 21-2 at the end of the first quarter and 35-5 by halftime as they were able to take full control early and never look back.
Against Bayou, the Patriots came out much stronger as they were neck and neck with a talented Colts team. It was a 30-25 game at the halfas the Patriots put up 17 points in the second quarter but the third quarter was a killer for the visitors.
The Colts came out gunning in the third rolling out 35points and holding the Patriots to 11. That created plenty of distance and was enough to put the game away as WA fell to 0-6. A big bright spot in the loss to Bayou, however, was the play of Will Catt as the senior dropped in 19 points and hit four 3-pointers opening up the scoring for the Pats in the second quarter with a trio from long distance.
Both teams will be off until the new year as they won’t play until January 5 against East Rankin Academy.
