Heading into the final stretch of the season, East Webster is looking to be hitting on all cylinders and head coach Jon Ginn has seen some signs of that from both of his teams.
The boys and the girls each showed some good and some not so good last week as they split games with Mantachie and McAdams and got away from district play once again. It ended with both teams losing to Mantachie and beating McAdams.
The girls team sits at 14-8 and 2-1 in Class 2A, Region 2 play and they’ve played a difficult schedule outside of their rival opponents in the division. Mantachie was another difficult one and a team that they beat earlier in the year in Cumberland in a nail biter 66-65.
Just as that game back in December showed the importance of home court, this one on Friday did the same as Mantachie squeaked by for a 72-71 win. It was heartbreaking the most for Ginn because his team had a double digit lead in the fourth quarter and couldn’t hold it.
“It was a tough loss because we played really well. We scored the ball well,” Ginn said. “They just made one more play at the end. We had three turnovers in the last minute that are things that we can control.”
With less than 3 minutes remaining in the game, EWHS led by 10 points. Mantachie hit consecutive 3-pointers around the 2 minute mark and then the wheels began to come off for the Lady Wolverines. Clinging to a 1-point lead with under 20 seconds remaining, EWHS turned the ball over and Mantachie scored the game-winning basket following that play.
There was a large discrepancy in fouls between the two teams as the Wolverines fouled 30 times and Mantachie just 13. Ultimately, the free throws were the difference in the game with Mantachie making 25-of-43 free throws and the Lady Wolverines shot 11 total of their own.
In defeat, Shameriah Culpepper led EWHS with 20 points while Shan Culpepper scored 18 and Meri-Grace Gregg had 14 points.
On Saturday, the Lady Wolverines had to go to play McAdams in the Philadelphia Invitational on short rest and go up against the same team that they played just a week ago in the Mid-Mississippi Challenge. Just like that game, EWHS was victorious, but it wasn’t nearly as pretty as Ginn was dealing with a tired team both mentally and physically.
He took home the 39-31 win and couldn’t have been happier.
“We just needed to survive,” Ginn said.
Gregg and Whitney Winter had nine points each in the ball game as Ginn didn’t expend his starters too much as he allowed them to get some rest.
Those players will need all the rest they can get with a big game on Tuesday. The Lady Wolverines wrap up a two seed in the district tournament if they can beat J.Z. George at home in a Tuesday night game that was finished after press time.
They’ll finish up the week by traveling to Vardaman on Thursday night.
BOYS
It was a rough start to the week as the boys dropped a 74-49 game at Mantachie. The home team jumped out to a 37-25 halftime lead and built on it the rest of the way for the blowout defeat.
Cael Chrsmond scored 13 points and Kainan Reed had 12 points all in the second half to lead the way but Mantachie’s Alex Dutha’s 30 points were the difference. It wasn’t a game that thrilled Ginn, but he thought his crew would bounce back the right way against McAdams.
The Wolverines (7-16) blew out McAdams 69-44 with a strong performance from start to finish. They never really trailed in a contest that they led 14-10 in during the first quarter and they extended that lead every single frame including a 23-point offensive output in the fourth.
“We just came out and played,” Ginn said. “We looked like we did before New Site when we had that run where we won four in a row. We played really well.”
It was the first win for the Wolverines since knocking off Eupora back on Jan. 10. Chandler Hodges led them in scoring with 18 points while they got 12 points from Reed once again and Reid Gatlin scored 11 points.
The Wolverines are looking to win their first district game of the year on Tuesday night against J.Z. George and it would give them the No. 4 seed in the Region 2 tournament.
