Winnsboro's Payton Green. (Shiela Haynes)

After missing out on a third straight trip to the state tournament last year, the Winnsboro Lady Raiders are determined to start a new streak.

They are getting closer after scoring a 69-37 win over the Mineola Lady Jackets on Monday in a Class 3A Division I regional semifinal girls basketball game at the Herrington Patriot Center on the campus of UT Tyler.

Winnsboro (34-3) advances to the Region II final to face Gunter (32-3) on Friday in Farmersville. Lady Raiders Coach Robert Cochran said tipoff time is to be determined. The Lady Tigers won their regional semifinal 50-35 over Malakoff on Monday in Rowlett.

Mineola’s standout season comes to an end at 21-15. The Lady Jackets finished second to Quitman in District 15-3A before scoring playoff wins over Gladewater (47-34 in bi-district) and Liberty-Eylau (63-48 in area).

The Lady Raiders came out hitting from the outside (5 3-pointers to take a 15-3 lead) before getting the ball inside. They played tough defense throughout.

“I thought we came out early and shot the ball extremely well,” Winnsboro Coach Robert Cochran said. “We wanted to make sure to play at our pace and tempo and I thought the girls did a good job of that.

“I take my hat off to Mineola. They had a good year, they never quit and never gave up. When we shoot the ball like that we are really tough. They caught us on a night when we shot it well and played well.”

Winnsboro led 22-10 after the first quarter and 38-18 at halftime.

There were two sets of twins in the game — Winnsboro (Kaitlyn McAdoo and Kennedie McAdoo) and Mineola (Jayla Jackson and Krya Jackson).

Sophomore Hadlee Brown led the Lady Raiders with 23 points, followed by Payton Green (12), Kaitlyn McAdoo (10), Kinlee Swanner (8), Laine Kelly (7), Parker Green (5), Kennedie McAdoo (2) and Lily Acker (2).

Kaitlyn McAdoo had nine rebounds and three steals.

“I thought we played really well,” Kaitlyn McAdoo, a 5-9 senior guard, said. “We shot the ball better than we have in the past game … and we played good defense.”

Brown and Payton Green added five rebounds each with four apiece from Parker Green and Kelly.

Parker Green added four steals.

Hitting 3-pointers were Payton Green (4), Brown (3), Swanner (2), Parker Green (1) and Kaitlyn McAdoo (1).

Jayla Jackson led Mineola with nine points, followed by Jaeyla Dennis (6), Mahayla McMahon (5), Kyra Jackson (5), Sophie Hogue (4), Kali Chrietzberg (3), Kaitlyn McMahon (3) and Caroline Castleberry (2).

Mahayla McMahon had seven rebounds with six from Chrietzberg, along with four each by Kyra Jackson and Hogue.

Castleberry and Mahayla McMahon each drew charges.

Connecting on treys were Jayla Jackson (3), Dennis (2), Mahayla McMahon (1), Kaitlyn McMahon (1) and Kyra Jackson (1).

Winnsboro was 11 of 30 from 3-point range, while Mineola was 8 of 21.

The Lady Raiders were 8 of 12 at the free throw line and the Lady Jackets were 5 of 7.

Winnsboro, which won District 12-3A and has made 15 state tournament appearances since 1991, scored wins over Pottsboro (67-32) and Ponder (55-51) to reach the regional semifinals.