After struggling for most of the season, the Central Holmes Lady Trojans found themselves in familiar territory last week, sitting in the district championship game.
After beating Carroll 54-33 in the semifinals, the Lady Trojans lost to homesteading Winona Christian 50-21 to finish second in the 2-4A Tournament.
The Central Holmes girls will be the No. 2 seed out of District 2 in the North 4A Tournament this week and will take on Oak Hill on Thursday at 4 p.m. The winner of that game will play the winner of Rossville and Indianola on Friday at 5:15 p.m.
Central Holmes girls 54, Carroll 33
The Lady Rebels couldn’t hold onto an early lead as the Lady Trojans pulled away in the middle two periods to take a 21-point win and advance to the championship game.
Carroll held a slim 9-8 lead at the end of the first period before Central Holmes outscored the Lady Rebels 15-6 in the second to lead 23-15 at the half. Central Holmes continued to extend its lead in the second half, outscoring Carroll 16-6 in the third and 15-12 in the fourth.
Kate Riley led Central Holmes with 12 points while Ella Hendry had 10 points.
Meri Brynn Reeves led Carroll with 13 points while Anna Laken Taylor had seven points.
Winona Christian girls 50, Central Holmes 21
The Lady Stars had little trouble in the championship game as they raced to a 29-point win over the Lady Trojans.
Winona Christian used a stingy defense to build an early lead as they outscored Central Holmes 12-2 in the first and 13-5 in the second to lead 25-7 at the half. Winona continued to extend its lead in the third period and outscored Central Holmes 14-1 to take a 39-8 lead to the fourth. The Lady Trojans took the fourth period 13-11 for the final margin.
Kate Riley led Central Holmes with 10 points.
Riley, Ella Hendry and Taylor Spell each made the all-tournament team for the Lady Trojans.
Indianola boys 53, Central Holmes 49
The Trojans fell victim to the suddenly hot Colonels, who took a four-point in an elimination game on Tuesday.
Central Holmes led 15-10 at the end of the first period but Indianola outscored the Trojans 17-9 in the second period to lead 27-24 at the half. Central Holmes then outscored Indianola 12-10 in the second to pull within 37-36 going to the fourth. But the Colonels outscored the Trojans 16-13 in the fourth to take the win.
It seemed like every time we got to going, we’d get out for another break and almost have to start over with conditioning and all that stuff but the boys did improve and got to play against some really tough opponents,” coach Caleb Joiner said. “Hopefully with us moving down to 3A next year, we’ll be able to capitalize with the players we have coming back.”
John Ward led Central Holmes with 13 points wile John Word also had 10 points.
