While one season came to an end last week, another one earned another week of playing time.
The Winona Christian Lady Stars grabbed a 43-40 win over Oak Hill to qualify for the Class AA North State Tournament. They lost the next two games and finished as the No. 4 seed out of District 1-AA.
The Stars weren’t as fortunate as they dropped a 34-30 decision to Carroll.
The Lady Stars advance to the Class AA North State Tournament and were to take on Greenville Christian on Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. at Benton Academy.
After splitting games in the regular season, the Lady Stars took the rubber match with a three-point win over OHA on Tuesday night to qualify for the Class AA state tournament.
Winona led 5-1 after the first period and 21-15 at the half. After each team scored 11 in the third period, Oak Hill made it close as they outscored Winona 14-11 in the fourth.
Elise Diffey led Winona with 18 points while Anna Cole Ware had 11 points. Sara White chipped in six points.
The Lady Stars struggled from the field as eventual champion Marshall took a 53-17 win in the tournament semifinals.
Marshall led 9-1 at the end of the first and 20-7 at the half. The Lady Patriots put the game away in the third as they outscored the Lady Stars 20-5 to lead 40-12.
Ware led Winona with 12 points.
Central Holmes pulled away in the second half after being tied at the half. to take the 46-39 win in the third-place game.
Winona led 12-8 at the end of the first and the game was tied at 22-22 at the half. Central Holmes then started to pull away as they outscored Winona 10-7 in the third and 14-10 in the fourth.
Ware led Winona with 18 points while Ivey Devine had eight points. Sara White had seven points while Diffey added six points.
Stars
The Stars carried a seven-point lead into the fourth period but couldn’t hold on for the win as the CA Rebels took the 34-30 win.
Carroll led 9-7 at the end of the first and 14-13 at the half. But Winona outscored Carroll 12-4 in the third to take a 25-18 lead into the fourth. But in the fourth, Carroll stormed back and outscored Winona 16-5 to take the win.
“Our season was one where we let a lot of games get away from us in the fourth,” Winona Christian coach Keith Ware said. “We just couldn’t finish off games. We had a lot of ifs and what-could-have-beens. I think this was a transition year for us. We’ve got the skill level and a lot of younger kids got some playing time, they just have to learn how to win and finish games. These kids have overcome a lot. They have seen a lot of different coaches and a lot of different styles. It was just a matter of them learning how to play. This was a turnaround year for us.”
Austin Huggins led the Stars with 13 points while Shaw Ferguson had nine points.
