Cerese Feagans of Kings Mountain said she briefly gave up playing Powerball until she saw her $3 Power Play ticket won her a $100,000 Powerball prize.

“I really had decided I was going to stop playing because I just decided I wasn’t lucky,” she said. “But I guess I was wrong.”

Feagans said she received an email that she needed to claim her prize, but she had no idea how much she won until she checked the number online.

“I was absolutely speechless,” she recalled, “which is pretty funny because I talk so much.”

Feagans bought her Quick Pick ticket for the March 18 drawing using Online Play. She matched numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000. Her prize doubled to $100,000 when the 2X multiplier hit. The odds of matching numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball are 1 in 913,129.

“I’ve finally stopped pinching myself,” Feagans laughed.

She claimed her prize Monday and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $71,251. She said she plans to invest her winnings and continue to, “live within my means.”

Monday’s Powerball drawing offers a $145 million jackpot, or $71.1 million in cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Powerball is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players can buy their tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. Cleveland County received $28.5 million in grants, using funds raised by the lottery, to help with school construction. For details on other ways money raised by the lottery made a difference in Cleveland County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.