Winnsboro Tops Tatum 60-48 to Clinch Tenaha Holiday Hoops Girls Championship Game Berth

TENAHA -- Winnsboro secured a spot in Saturday's girls championship of the Tenaha Holiday Hoops Scholarship Classic with a 60-48 win against defending tournament champion Tatum on Friday at the Special Events Center.

Winnsboro, ranked 16th in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' Class 2A poll, plays Lipan at 2 p.m. Saturday for the girls tournament crown. Lipan, which beat state-ranked Slocum in a Friday semifinal, is No. 2 in Class A Division II and lost to Tatum in last year's tournament title.

Winnsboro built a 16-8 lead through one quarter, but had to hold off Tatum the rest of the evening. The Lady Raiders used an impressive fourth-quarter free-throw shooting display to seal the win, hitting 17 of 22 foul shots in the final period to hold off and, in the final two minutes, separate from the 23rd-ranked Lady Eagles for the 12-point win.

Winnsboro's Logan Redding shot 10-for-10 from the free-throw line with all of her attempts coming after halftime, including six in the fourth. Bailey Swanner's 16 points, nine of which came in the first quarter, led Winnsboro, which got 13 points from Danie Mabry, who hit 6 of 8 second-half free-throw attempts.

In all, Winnsboro made 26 of 34 free-throw tries, giving the Lady Raiders a big advantage over Tatum's 10-for-21 performance.

Tatum got a big night from Alexes Bell, who scored a game-high 27 points.

Redding and Timber Brown scored 10 points and nine points, respectively, while Tatum's Kaylah Starling scored eight. Tatum's Daziah Adams added seven points for the Lady Eagles, who pulled within a possession in the fourth before Winnsboro iced the game at the charity stripe.

Tatum plays Slocum at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the girls third-place game in the Special Events Center.

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Tenaha Holiday Hoops Scholarship Classic

Girls Semifinal

Winnsboro 60, Tatum 48

Special Events Center, Tenaha

Winnsboro -- 16 13 13 18 -- 60
Tatum -- 8 11 16 13 -- 48

Winnsboro -- Timber Brown 9, Danie Mabry 13, Abigail Ramirez 4, Logan Redding 10, Reagan Johnson 5, Bailey Swanner 16, Samantha Busby 3.
Tatum -- Alexes Bell 27, Kaylah Starling 8, JaKaylon Lee 2, Daziah Adams 7, Alexus Freeney 2, Ro'Nisha Simpson 2.
Rankings -- Winnsboro: No. 16 in 2A. Tatum: No. 23 in 2A.