Lady Warriors playing for 8th title

Lady Warriors playing for 8th title

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The Choctaw Central Lady Warriors are in the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Class 4A championship game.

They will be going for the eighth state championship in school history when they play Pontotoc Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.

“Winning the state championship. That’s always the goal,” Coach Bill Smith said. “We are playing well right now. We have one more game to go.”

The Lady Warriors have won state championships in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2017 and 2018. If they win this week, they will have won the state championship in three different classifications – 2A, 3A and 4A.

The Lady Warriors improved to 25-3 following their crushing 72-49 victory over Pass Christian in the semifinals at the Coliseum Monday. Pontotoc advanced to the finals by defeating Moss Point 37-21.

Senior Meloney Thames scored 30 points to lead the Lady Warriors. Choctaw Central went up 25-10 at the end of the first quarter. They outscored Pass Christian 21-9 in the second quarter and led 46-19 at the half.

The Lady Warriors went up by as much as 30 points in the third quarter, But then Pass Christian battled back to cut the lead to 17. At that point, Thames hit a three-point shot, then stole a pass and scored, and then hit another three-pointer to stop that comeback. The Lady Warriors carried a 62-35 lead into the final quarter and held on for the win.

Carly Keats added 16 points while Lyleonia Johnson scored 10 points.

Because of last month’s ice storm, the tournament dates were pushed back and teams had to play three games last week with the girls taking the court Monday,  Wednesday and Friday.

Choctaw Central started last week with a 56-40 victory over Ripley. They then defeated South Pontotoc 68-32 on Wednesday.

Against South Pontotoc, the Lady Warriors went up 25-5 at the end of the first quarter. Choctaw Central outscored the Lady Cougars 19-15 in the second quarter and led 39-20 at the half. The Lady Warriors had a 24-12 scoring edge in the second half. Thames led with 22 points while Shantashia John scored 14 and Kyla Farmer put in nine.

Last Friday, the Lady Warriors took on Tishomingo County in a game that might have been for the state championship if the brackets were drawn differently. Tishomingo County defeated both Choctaw Central and Pontotoc earlier in the season and was the top-ranked team through most of the regular season. But Choctaw Central traveled to Iuka and dispatched them 73-50.

On the road, the Lady Warriors went up 19-15 at the end of the first quarter. Choctaw Central outscored the Lady Braves 16-10 in the second quarter and led 35-25 at the half. Tishomingo County battled back in the third quarter but Choctaw Central outscored them 19-17 to carry a 54-42 lead into the final stanza. The Lady Warriors put in 19 points in the final quarter while holding the Lady Braves to nine points.

Carly Keats fired in 21 points to lead the Lady Warriors while Thames added 17 points. Johnson scored 15 and John scored nine.






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