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DECATUR An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss.

The McMinn Central girls defeated Kingston 80-62 and then 85-45 in the regular season, an average of 29 points. It wasnt that easy on Friday in the District 3-AA semifinals, but the Chargerettes came away with a 64-53 win over the Lady Yellow Jackets to move on to the district tournament championship game.

Central head coach Johnny Morgan wasnt pleased with how his team played, but wasnt that concerned as it wasnt a knockout game.

Youre not worried until it could be your last game, Morgan said. Either way we were going to play again. But I told them you are going play one more game (in the region tournament) and that will be it or we could go on and have a good season. But it all starts with them listening to the coach.

Before the Region 2-2A Tournament, the Chargerettes (23-4) will face Tellico in the District 3-2A Tournament championship game at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. By reaching the district title game both will host region tournament games.

Tellico (18-5), the district tournaments No. 3 seed, reached the championship game by upsetting No. 2-seed Meigs County.

Chargerettes 64, Lady Yellow Jackets 54: With the game knotted up at 5-5, Central went on a 7-0 run with baskets by Kara Crabtree and Molly Masingale, a free throw by Kellan Baker and then a another bucket by Masingale.

That put Central up 12-5 and the quarter ended with the Chargerettes ahead 16-10.

Central continued to maintain a solid, but not dominating, lead through most of the second quarter. Buckets by Baker, Karina Bystry, Masingale, and a late three-pointer by Baker put Central ahead 30-19 with 1:50 left in the first half.

After another bucket by Masingale, Kingston hit a trey to make it 32-22, Central, going to the half.

The Lady Yellow Jackets came out strong in the third quarter with three treys and then a third quarter buzzer beater to make it a one-point game with Central ahead only 39-38 going to the fourth.

Early in the fourth, another three-pointer by Kingston made it 43-41, Central, but then the Chargerettes began to push ahead.

Three-pointers by Bystry and Baker made it 49-41 and then free throws by Bystry put Central ahead 53-43 with 5:30 to play. Kingston continued to score enough to keep the game close but Central made their three throws to maintain a somewhat comfortable lead.

Central was on top 62-51 with 42 seconds left after free throws by Bystry and Masingale as the Chargerettes went on to win 64-53.

The Chargerettes hit 12 out of their 13 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter. Bystry made 5-of-6, Masingale went 4-for-4, Baker 2-for-2 and Mayfield went 2-for-2.

Baker led the Chargerettes with 21 points while Masingale added 18 points.

Macey Neal hit five three-pointers for Kingston to keep the Lady Yellow Jackets in the game to finish with 20 points and Braxton Fritts had 19.

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Chargerettes survive and advance | Sports | dailypostathenian.com - The Daily Post-Athenian