BRAGGS – The Midway Lady Chargers are guaranteed a seat in the OSSAA Area tournament with a  53-50 win over the Paden Lady Pirates.

Fouls made the difference Tuesday night with the Paden Lady Pirates sending Midway to the line 36 times over four periods where they were 29-for-36 for the game.

Taylon Ray was outstanding from the line for the Lady Chargers making 15 of 16 attempts to score all of her 15 game points from the charity stripe.

Midway took a substantial lead in the first half outscoring Paden 32-24 in the opening 16 minutes of play. Ray scored 7 of her 15 points in the first half, while Briley Vanbrunt led with 10 points.

Brooklyn Cheatwood hit for 10 points for the Lady Pirates and Peyton Edwards added 8 points in the half.

After the break Paden made a big push in the third period outscoring Midway 16-7 to tighten the game and take the lead 40-39 with eight minutes left in the contest.

It was foul troubles again for the Lady Pirates in the final period, sending the Lady Charger to the line for 10 attempts of which they netted them all (10-for-10) for a period total of 14 points and a 53-50 win.

Midway’s top scorers were Vanbrunt with 18 points, Ray with 15 points (all from the free throw line, and Hailey Vanbrunt and Reagan Bowling each with 8 points for the contest.

The Lady Pirates were led by Cheatwood with 20 points, Kyra Smith with 16, and Edwards with 10 points.

With the win Midway remains in the winners bracket to move on to Agra to face Hillside Christian Saturday in the Regional semi-final with a guarantee of advancing to the Area tournament. Paden also will go to Agra to face the Shidler-Agra winner in a must-win consolation bracket game on Friday night.