Warrenton girls basketball Head Coach Greg Williams knows that the district’s title is up for grabs. Top to bottom, any team can walk away with the championship.

“The teams are all fairly even and anyone can win this district,” Williams said. “The ‘want to’ will be the big factor.”

The Class 4, District 8 will be played at Mexico High School, as the host team earned the top overall seed and will receive a first round bye. Hannibal will also get a bye as they are the second seed.

No. 3 seed Warrenton finished the regular season with a 13-10 record and will open up against sixth seed Fulton on Monday at 7:30 p.m. The winner will face Hannibal in the semifinals on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

“Fulton is a good team and better than what their record shows,” Williams said. “They play hard and they compete but they just lack depth.”

The Lady Hornets are currently 6-16 with games against Moberly and Mexico this week yet to be played. 

Warrenton has not played since last Friday, so they will be rested going into the first round of district play. Williams is happy that his team is getting this break, because they need it.

“We need to get healthy as injuries and the flu have been a real issue,” Williams said. “We just haven't found consistency.”

Although the continuity isn’t to their coach’s liking, the Warriors have started to gain some momentum since the beginning of the year. Warrenton has won 11 out of its last 16 games since starting the season 2-5. 

Warrenton is led by senior Brooke Smith, who averages over 13 points per game while shooting almost 45 percent from the field. She also leads the team in blocks and steals. 

The games are over an hour away and, potentially, playing back-to-back nights is something Williams is concerned with.

“The long trip will be an issue,” Williams said. “But if you want to win, you have to deal with it.”