As the end of the schedule is drawing near for basketball around the state, East Webster got a chance to step back and reset for most of last week.
The boys and girls teams didn’t play during the week and instead took part in Saturday’s Mid-Mississippi Challenge at Choctaw County. Head coach Jon Ginn was pleased with both of his team’s effort those they had different results.
The girls tipped off the day in Ackerman with the opening ball game against McAdams. Shan Culpepper, Meri-Grace Gregg and Whitney Winter all scored in double figures as the Lady Wolverines were able to cruise to a 59-44 win.
“I was really pleased with them. We had some good balance scoring with three girls in double digits,” Ginn said of the girls. “There were a couple of times we were up by 20 and we were able to play some girls. We defended and rebounded well so it was a productive day.
EWHS led 16-8 after the first quarter and 31-22 at halftime as they began to pull away. Culpepper was named the Most Valuable Player of the game with 17 points while Winter and Gregg finished with 14 apiece.
As the Lady Wolverines moved to 13-7 on the year they now prepare for three more non-district games this week before playing a final Class 2A, Region 2 ball game against JZ George next week. They’re on pace to get the No. 2 seed in the district tournament with a win.
Ginn likes the way that his team is playing and thought they handled the day in Ackerman well.
“It’s always good to get away from that part of the season in district. It’s a chance to come in and just play,” Ginn said. “McAdams generally has good girls teams and they’re athletic and well-coached. It was a chance for us to see a different defense and to play somebody that you don’t know much of anything about.”
The boys played hard in their ball game against Winona but the Tigers roared in the fourth quarter as they won 52-45. It was a game that saw EWHS lead at halftime and were leading by as much as seven point midway through the third quarter.
The wheels fell off the rest of the way as Winona went on an 18-2 run to push the lead out to 45-36 and they never looked back.
Reid Gatlin scored 17 points in the game but 14 of those were in the first half and he made no free throws in the second half. A nice defensive game plan was the difference, Ginn said.
“We turn the ball over too much. The pace of the game was where we wanted it but they pressed us from the beginning of the game to the end,” Ginn said. “Reid was playing real well in the first half and they came out and took him out of the game in the second half. We didn’t respond well against the Box-and-One like the girls did. We never could find a rhythm and made some bad reads.”
Sedrick Taylor also scored in double figures finishing with 10 points and EWHS fell to 6-14 on the year.
The two teams have a busy week ahead of them as they play at Choctaw County on Tuesday, at Mantachie on Friday and against McAdams at Philadelphia on Saturday in the Tornado Classic.
