Winston Academy is in the middle of a drought as both teams have dropped three-straight district ball games within the last couple of weeks.
The Lady Patriots fell back under .500 on the year and went to 8-9 with losses to East Rankin and Leake Academy and the boys fell to both teams also.
Scoring remained an issue for WA on the road at ERA as the Lady Patriots fell behind 38-18 at halftime but managed to hold things steady going into the fourth quarter as the score was 45-26. After making some slight progress in the third they couldn’t find the shots and made just one field goal in the final frame scoring just three points in what was a convincing 59-29 victory for the home team.
Hailey Bradford score 15 points in the loss but no one else had more than five points.
Against the mighty Lady Rebels, WA was overpowered early in a 61-24 blowout. Leake scored 42 points in the first half and surrendered just nine points to WA including just one point in the second quarter. Bradford scored seven points to lead the way.
BOYS
The WA boys are now 2-14 after two more losses this week beginning in Pelahatchie, but progress is being made for the inexperienced crew.
Trailing just 28-19 at halftime and 39-29 at the end of three quarters, the Patriots were in position to make a game of it against their conference rivals. They weren’t able to get enough stops down the stretch, but the 51-42 final showed promise from the young team.
Johnson Wells was the leading scorer for WA with 16 points and Evan Willis had 14 points.
Against Leake, the Patriots had one of their better halves of the year before the Rebels closed strong. The Patriots and Rebels were tied at nine at the end of the first and Leake held a narrow 24-22 lead going into halftime. 41 points in the second half by LA was too much to overcome in a 65-51 final with the Rebels coming out victorious.
WA had 23 points from Brylee Wall.
Both teams are back in action this week with more tough conference games. They were to host Heritage on Tuesday night as former girls coach Moe Reed returns for the first time. They’ll play at Lamar School in Meridian on Friday and then Hartfield Academy comes to Louisville on Saturday for games starting at 1 p.m with junior varsity girls.
