The team bus drove through a crowded Francis Howell Central parking lot and Greg Williams heard a gasp.

The Warrenton girls basketball team arrived for its sectional matchup with St. Charles West last season and players panicked.

“I had to talk some girls off the bus,” the Warrenton Head Coach said. “They were scared to death, but I told them we had to play the game. Then we get out there and our first three shots were 30 feet over the rim.”

Warrenton lost, 54-39.

“We got down early and made a huge run to battle back, but we ran out of gas,” Williams said. “Hopefully, we learned our lesson and don’t need another big comeback if we’re back in that spot.”

One year later, Warrenton is back in the Sweet 16 and faces another Gateway Athletic Conference rival — St. Charles — in Tuesday's sectional at Howell Central.

Like St. Charles West last season, St. Charles picked up two convincing wins over Warrenton this year and would be favored over the Warriors if people did that sort of thing for high school girls basketball.

“The first two times we played them, we played awful,” junior forward Jenny Jansen said. “They’re a good team, but hopefully the third time is a charm.”

The Warriors spent more time working on their zone offense last week in preparation for a third meeting with the Pirates.

St. Charles’ 3-2 zone smothered Warrenton in both meetings this season, holding the Warriors to 26.5 points per contest.

Lindenwood University-signee and 6-foot-1 senior forward Gabby Walker anchored the zone, creating turnovers and scoring easy buckets in transition.

She was guarded by Jansen throughout both games and averaged 19.5 points.

“She’s not only a great player, but she’s physical,” Jansen said. “She’s a lot stronger than I am, so it’s a tough matchup for me. I look forward to it, but it’s just tough.”

Williams and his players said that while they didn't look past the district tournament, schedule constraints forced them to prepare for a third showdown with St. Charles last week.

The Class 4 sectional will be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Howell Central.

“They kicked our butts twice, so let’s go see if they can do it a third time,” Williams said. “And your reward after that would probably be Incarnate (Word), so it doesn’t get any easier. But that’s playoff basketball. You have to beat the best at some point, so let’s go do it.”