Warriors and Warriorettes split with Stone Memorial

On Jan. 9, the Stone Memorial Panthers came to town and took on the Warriors and Warriorettes in an early district contest. The Warriorettes played first in what was an extremely competitive game from start to finish.

The Warriorettes got off to a good start ending the first quarter with a 5-point lead. The second quarter, however, went in favor of Stone Memorial who made up those 5 points plus 5 more to take a 26-21 lead over the Warriorettes going into halftime.

The Warriorettes answered in the third quarter, tying the game up going into the final quarter of the game.

The fourth quarter saw Stone Memorial stretch the lead back out to 5, but the Warriorettes showed resilience battling back. With 40 seconds left and down by 4, Sophomore Bella Winningham hit a huge 3-point shot to bring the Warriorettes within 1, making the score 48-49. Stone Memorial added two free throws to stretch the lead to 48-51 with 35 seconds left. On the in-bounding play, the Warriorettes tried to get an open look but turned the ball over without taking a shot with 15 seconds left and, unfortunately, never got another chance. The Warriorettes fell to Stone Memorial 48-51.

Junior Ava Jones led the Warriorettes with 20 points and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Senior Celeste Reed scored 8 and led the Warriorettes with 14 rebounds and three blocked shots. Bella Winningham scored 9 points and had three steals.

Game two featured the Panthers and Warriors squaring off in what was also a very competitive game that had six lead changes. With about three-and-half minutes to play in the first half, the Warriors were down by 12. After a few made free throws and a drive-in traffic that resulted in 2 points by freshman Cole Sims, the Warriors ended the half down only seven with a score of 16-23.

When the second half began, the Warriors took control and never relinquished it. It wasn’t easy, but the Warriors went on to handle the Panthers and send them back up the mountain with a loss. The final score was 57-50.

Freshman Cole Sims had a game leading the Warriors with 21 points shooting 4-7 from beyond the arc and a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. He also pulled down six boards, had two assists, and three steals. Junior Tripp Pinion scored 19, secured three rebounds, made four assists, and had two steals on the night. Junior Gage Stephenson scored 10 points and led the Warriors with nine rebounds.