The Newton County Lady Cougars won their 10th straight game on Monday night and are headed back to the Class 4A championship game, two years after winning the title in 2023.
Newton County advanced to the 4A title game with a 3-0 won over Pass Christian, winning 25-21, 25-8 and 26-24.
“Pass was really good and tested us in every aspect of the game,” Beasley said. “It was really back and forth the first set. We came out on fire in the second set. In the last set, we were down 9-1 and I burned all of my timeouts trying to get them stopped. We were down 23-19 but came back and won that set. We were down big and fought back to win and that shows a lot of leadership. It was a gutsy third set to find a way to win.”
Newton County improves to 35-5 on the season and will take on New Albany in a rematch of last year’s North 4A championship match when the Lady Bulldogs upset the Lady Cougars. They will play on Thursday at 2 p.m. at Mississippi College.
“It’s going to be fun,” Beasley said. “Since they beat us last year, our girls have been looking for a way to get back to them. I’m glad they will have a chance to play for it and happy to get a shot at them. And playing New Albany makes it even bigger.”
On Tuesday, Newton County pounded Greene County 25-6, 25-13, 25-17. Adilyn Vaughn had 12 kills and two digs while Felisia King had 12 kills. Tatum Evans had eight kills, four serves and five digs. Shae Jimmie had 11 digs and 29 assists for the Lady Cougars.
On Thursday, County beat Bay High 25-13, 25-21 and 25-17.
Lake
The Lake Lady Hornets are headed back to the Class 2A state championship.
Lake beat Sacred Heart 3-1 to advance to the championship game on Monday night. The Lady Yellowjackets took the first set 27-25 and the second set 25-14. Sacred Heart bounced back and won the third set 25-16. But the Lady Hornets took the fourth set 25-19 to take the 2A South State championship for the second straight season.
“We didn’t play our best but played well enough to win,” Lake coach Jacob Casey said. “We did a good job of serving and playing defense and keeping pressure on them. Again, it wasn’t our best game, but we are moving on to the state championship. I’ve proud of the girls for all of their hard work. They have improved tremendously since the start of the season.”
Union will play Walnut on Friday at 2 p.m. at Mississippi College. Casey beat Walnut last year at Union.
“I don’t know a lot about them but will start to work on them first thing in the morning,” Casey said Monday night. “We played them last year at Union and beat them, but they were really good. I feel like they have a lot of returning players and will be better than they were last year. I know they will be well coached and very aggressive and will attack us. We have to be able to handle that attack and attack back.”
On Thursday, Lake beat Enterprise 3-1, winning the first two set 25-15 and 25-12. Enterprise bounced back and took the third set 30-28 before Lake on the fourth set 25-20 to take the match.
On Tuesday, Lake hammered East Marion 3-0, winning 25-9, 25-12, 25-9.
Lake lost in the 2A finals last year to Ingomar.
Union
The Lady Yellowjackets finished the season with a 30-12 record as they lost to Our Lady Academy 3-0 on Monday night, coming one win sort of playing for the 3A state championship.
On Tuesday, Union beat St Patrick 3-0, winning 27-25, 25-18 and 25-22.
On Thursday, Union beat Presbyterian Christian 3-0, winning 2-18, 25-20 and 25-18.
