By their own admission, the Warren Central Lady Vikes had a bad night when they ran into Murrah last week.

They committed 33 turnovers, didn’t shoot particularly well and only scored 28 points in a blowout loss. It was a trend that continued in a 41-28 loss to Lanier in Friday’s regular-season finale.

For better or for worse, the Lady Vikes are getting another shot at Murrah and to snap out of their funk. WC and Murrah will meet Monday in the first round of the girls’ Division 4-6A tournament at Clinton High School.

“The whole team was off,” sophomore forward Amber Gaston said of last Tuesday’s 56-28 loss to Murrah. “We’ve just got to shake it off and get back to the drawing board. We have to have passion in our heart and go hard.”

Warren Central enters the tournament with an 18-10 record, but finished fourth in the division. That dropped them into a first-round matchup with Murrah (22-3).

Murrah only lost once within the division, but did play two overtime games — including one at Warren Central on Jan. 26 — and had four of its six league games decided by seven points or less.

“We just weren’t there last week. The first time we played them we went to overtime. So we know we can do it. It’s just executing and using our basketball IQ,” said Gaston, who averages 7.0 points and 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game.

The toughest opponent for Warren Central seems to be itself. It has scored more than 40 points only once in its last six games and injuries are starting to mount. Starting guard Dee Dee Caldwell is questionable for the tournament with a knee injury.

The team’s ballhandlers have also struggled. Turnovers have led to lost possessions and low scoring, and helped the games against Murrah and Lanier get out of hand after competitive starts. The Lady Vikes were outscored 18-4 in the third quarter against Murrah, and 14-2 in the second quarter against Lanier.

“Turnovers,” guard T.T. Sims said in explaining the team’s struggles. “We’ve been having more than 20 a game. We’ve got to slack on the turnovers and play better defense.”

Even if the Lady Vikes can’t get past Murrah, their season is not over. The top three teams in the division tournament advance to the Class 6A state tournament, so Monday’s losers will get a second chance with a consolation game on Friday.

Warren Central is also a young team. There are no seniors on the roster and guard Kiara Lockhart is the only junior. The players know their best days are yet to come, but are also hoping to build a winning foundation this time around.

“You want to beat them so we can keep going and come home and play the satellite game,” Gaston said. “It will be a great accomplishment, seeing as we’re such a young team. It’d be great to pull through.”

Division 4-6A tournament

At Clinton High School

Girls

Monday

Warren Central vs. Murrah, 6 p.m.

Clinton vs. Greenville, 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Consolation game, 4 p.m.

Championship game, 7 p.m.

Boys

Tuesday

Warren Central vs. Greenville, 6 p.m.

Clinton vs. Murrah, 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Consolation game, 5:30 p.m.

Championship game, 8:30 p.m.