The Winona girls basketball team used a strong second half to defeat Ethel 41-32.
“We came out flat in the first half, completely flat,” said Coach Frank Miller.
The game was tied 21-21 at the half, but Winona went on a 20-3 run to lead 41-24 midway through the fourth quarter before Ethel scored the final eight points against Winona subs. Tatyana Womack led the Lady Tigers with 14 points. MyCala Helms had seven rebounds.
Miller attributed the second half play to greater effort. “Loose balls, defense, rebounding and hustle.”
In an earlier game, Winona was defeated by defeated 3A state champion Choctaw Central 69-13. Helms scored eight points.
The Lady Tigers are 12-7 and 1-2 in Region 5-3A.
Tigers
The Tigers were defeated by Choctaw Central 62-26 and Ethel 54-47.
Winona jumped out to a second quarter lead against Choctaw Central. “After we got up 16-8, we got away from our offense,” said Coach Presley Coleman. “We stopped executing our offense and we got a little slack on defense which led to Choctaw Central getting some easy baskets.”
Sean Merritt had team high totals of 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting and 7 rebounds for the Tigers.
Winona led Ethel for much of the game. “I told the guys that we were going to slow the game down and run some time off the clock. But our guys got impatient and forced some shot,” Coleman said. “That allowed Ethel to get back in the game.”
Robert McMath had 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals for the Tigers. Merritt scored 10 points and James Shelton had 9 points on 4-6 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.
It was the third game between Winona and Ethel, the Tigers having won the previous two.
Winona played Southeast Lauderdale Tuesday and have home games with Morton Friday. Both are region games.
