Winona swept basketball games against French Camp, with the boys winning easily and the girls by one point.
The Tigers jumped out to a 21-4 lead after one quarter and coasted to a 61-29 win. Sean Merritt was a perfect eighth for eight from the floor and scored 19 points for Winona.
Coach Presley Coleman called it a good all-around performance and said his team played much better than in a season opening 55-26 loss to Water Valley in a Classic game. “I challenged everybody to step up.”
He said everybody contributed to the win. Cameron Rush and Jalen Daniels each scored 10 points, Rush had five steals and Trey Glover led the team in rebounds with seven and assists with five.
The Lady Tigers built up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and held on for a 34-33 victory. “We missed some shots and made some turnovers and they came down and scored,” said Coach Frank Miller.
“Defensively, we played pretty well. Offensively we played better than the first game (a 26-22 win over Water Valley). We cut our turnovers in half.”
Tommesha Brown led the Lady Tigers with 11 points. MyCala Helms had eight. Madison Klein kept French Camp in the game with 21 points.
Both teams played Choctaw County Tuesday and will participate in a tournament at J.Z. George. The Tigers and Lady Tigers play Ethel Wednesday, Kosciusko Thursday and J.Z. George Saturday. Games the first two nights are scheduled for 4 p.m. for girls and 5:30 for boys. Saturday’s games are scheduled for 7 (girls) and 8:30 (boys).
The Ethel games were scheduled for Friday, but were moved up two days to not conflict with the Winona football team’s playoff game at Seminary.
