Three months ago, the Warrenton girls basketball team seemed poised to win its fourth straight district championship.

Like last season, the Warriors were going to spend much of the regular season preparing for a sectional meeting with state-ranked Incarnate Word.

But as so often happens, things didn’t go as planned.

Senior point guard Rylie Cox fractured a vertebrae in the third game of the season and hasn’t played since.

Junior guard Allison Tonioli has battled injuries of her own, and Head Coach Greg Williams found himself dipping into the freshman ranks to fill out a lineup at times.

“They’ve gotten better,” Williams said of his younger players. “They went from not being ready to being able to do stuff, and putting them in this environment will only make them better down the road.”

Warrenton earned the No. 2 seed in next week’s Class 4, District 8 Tournament in Hannibal, and will face No. 3 Mexico or No. 6 Fulton Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals.

“I assumed we would have been a two or a three (seed), but we had the advantage over Mexico when it came to common opponents,” Williams said. “I’m sure Mexico will win, so we’ll probably play them Tuesday night.”

Mexico is led by 5-foot-8 senior guard Adria Costley, who is committed to the University of Central Missouri and was a Class 4 All-State player last season.

“The Costley girl is really good, and they have two other shooters and a good post player, so it will be a tough matchup for us,” Williams said. “They’re well-coached and have a really good program, so it will be an interesting game.”

Warrenton will likely rely on senior forward Kayla Nelson, who leads the Warriors with 17.6 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Nelson, along with senior guard Ashtyn Dixon, will walk on the court Tuesday with a combined six district titles under their belts.

Williams hopes that experience will help his younger players adapt to the postseason.

Sophomores Lexi Frederick, Miranda Nelson, Brooke Smith and freshmen Allison Gerard and Morgan Frye will be getting their first serious district minutes next week, and Williams said that experience will only help in years to come.

“You’re obviously concerned about the present, but you’re also looking at what’s coming down the road in the future, and there are some good players on the way,” he said. “So this will be a good experience for them. Hopefully this will give them that extra push to keep working and getting better.”

For now, the 2018 senior class is two wins away from a fourth consecutive district championship.

St. Dominic, which earned the No. 1 seed, will likely be waiting in the championship game Friday at 6 p.m.

“All this senior group has done is win, and that’s their legacy,” Williams said. “If we could have avoided a back injury, who knows what kind of season we could have had. We probably would have had three losses right now if we stayed 100 percent healthy, but that’s part of the game. We’ve rebounded nicely after starting 2-6, and now it’s time to keep winning.”