The Warriors and Lady Warriors of Nanih Waiya High School head into this week’s basketball action looking to improve their seeding for the Region 5-1A tournament that is set to be played at McAdams on Feb. 11-14.
Nanih Waiya was set to host league-leading West Lowndes on Tuesday and McAdams on Friday in region contests, before taking the trip to Carroll County to face J.Z. George in a non-region contest on Saturday.
The following week sees NW hosting arch-rival Noxapater on Tuesday and closing out the regular season at French Camp on Friday.
Last week the Warriors took a tough 70-63 win over French Camp before dropping a nail-biter to Ethel by the score of 55-52.
In the league win over FCA Tyquan McCully erupted for 27 points to lead the winners, while Ethan Daily had a well-rounded game with 10 points, nine rebounds, and five steals.
Izaiaha Nicholson had nine points and 11 boards for NW, while Quinton Willis had 11 points, four rebounds and five steals, and Rico Moore had nine points, four rebounds and three steals.
Nanih Waiya led at the end of each quarter, going up 17-13 after one, 32-30 at the half, and 52-44 after three quarters of play.
Nanih Waiya led Ethel 12-9 after one quarter and 20-18 at the half, before the Tigers fought back to tie the game at 42-42 with eight minutes to play, then outscored the Warriors 13-10 in the final quarter to take the win.
McCully had 12 points and four rebounds to lead NW, while Daily had 10 points and three steals and Trey McMullan had eight points, five rebounds and took a charge. Rico Moore added seven points and five rebounds to the NW totals.
GIRLS
The Lady Warriors dropped a pair of Region 5-1A decisions last week, falling to FCA 61-50 and Ethel 50-43. The NW girls have four region games left on the schedule in which to climb their way up the regular season standings in order to improve their tournament seeding.
Nanih Waiya fell behind visiting FCA 18-7 after one quarter of play last Thursday and never could really recover. The Lady Warriors cut it to 27-19 at the half, but the Lady Panthers regained the momentum by outscoring NW in the third quarter to take a 44-29 lead heading into the final eight minutes of the game.
Sophomore point guard Ambria Tubby poured in 24 points to lead Nanih Waiya, while I’onnya Coleman scored 12 and freshman Morgan Mills added six.
Friday night’s matchup with Ethel saw the Lady Warriors lead 27-21 at the half, only to have the Lady Tigers outscore NW 16-9 in the third quarter and 13-7 in the fourth to take the seven-point win.
Tubby was the leading scorer for NW with 16 points, while Coleman had 12 and Mills 10.
