Playoffs: Mamou vs Northeast Lady Vikings

The Mamou Lady Demons hosted the opening round of the basketball playoffs Thursday night as the Vikings came North by Northeast. The theme of the first half was the Demons forcing turnovers, but they could not capitalize as the ball rattled off the rim. The Mamou band providesd the halftime entertainment from the corner of Section A belting out such tunes as Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror." As the lyrics of the song suggest, the Lady Demons during the break were taking a look at themselves and then make that change in their style of play on the night. However, they fell victim by a final score of 60-48.
"In the first quarter, we couldn't convert the easy (shots)," said head coach Mark Temple. "The free throws hurt us and (Northeast's) size. They had a good inside presence... I appreciate my girls and love their effort. They gave their all."
Mikeisha Causey scored a basket for Northeast to take a 2-0 lead with 4:26 left in the quarter. The fans at that point began encouraging the Lady Demons, "We gotta make our shots." Darelzray Wilson responded as she laid it up and in under the net to tie the game at 2 to get the boisterous crowd on its feet. Arkieyanah Thomas responded as well as she stole the basketball away and scored to tie the game at 4 in the waning seconds of the opening quarter. The quarter ends with the Lady Vikings leading by 2 at 6-4.
At the 4:52 mark Thomas headed to the line and split a pair of free throws cutting the score to 11-7, then Bellard drained a three pointer to cut the deficit within 1 point. The Lady Vikings increased the lead on back to back to back scores and started seizing control of the game. With 3:40 to go in the half, the Lady Vikings lead 18-10. Bellard added two points from the charity line with 3:03 in the half to make the score 18-12. It was a good year for Louisiana but a bad score for Mamou.
Thomas drained a three pointer, and the score was 20-15 with 1:58 to go in the half. The Lady Vikings took a double-digit lead heading into halftime with the score being 25-15. Lauri Kight started the second half by muscleing her way on the court to put up baskets. Mamou called a timeout at the 5:53 mark with the team down 31-15 and got on the board in the half with a basket from Tia Gallow.
With Mamou down 34-22, the team was again starting to impose its will on defense giving the offense a chance to get back in the game. However, it appeared the Lady Vikings were adjusting on both ends of the court.
Gallow scored from under the net and was fouled. At the 1:43 mark of the third quarter, Mamou was down again by 10 points. Bellard drained another trey cutting the deficit to single digits, but the Lady Vikings answered. Kiajah Wilson again brought the deficit within single digits. That is how the third quarter ended with the Lady Vikings up 42-33.
The final eight minutes of play began with "Let's go defense" echoing through the Mamou gym. The score hovered around the same point margin in the first half of the final quarter of play, but the lady Vikings broke the half century mark on the scoreboard with just over 4 minutes remaining in the game. The visiting team led 51-37. Bellard would not go away quietly as she knocked down a couple of three pointers to close out the game, but it was proverbially too little too late.
The Lady Demons will now have to wait until next season to hang another banner from the rafters commerating a trip to the Sweet 16. "We had a good season at 22-9 and are still young," said Temple after the game. "We got a lot of building blocks   around us."

Pine Prairie Boys vs Church Point

            Chris Guillory talked before the game about the basketball landscape in Class 3-A. To paraphrase him said… The past couple of years we’ve gone from Class B to 2-A to 3-A. We didn’t see much of a change going from B to 2-A playing teams like Glenmora, Rapides, Chataignier, Bayou Chicot, and Vidrine. But going to 3-A last year we saw a huge difference in the style of play with the more competitive teams. A couple years ago Red River came in here and beat us in the playoffs and went on to win the state championship. You put that team in 3-A, and they probably won’t even make the playoffs.

            His Panthers played one such team Tuesday night as the Church Point Bears came to town. Javon Ardoin scored the first bucket to go up 2-0 at the 7:30 mark. Sylus Carsus picked up the offensive rebound and the basket to go up 4-2. Josh Freeman then drained a three pointer from the deep corner of the key to go up 8-2.

            Allen Myles and Ardoin combined to give the Panthers a 12-2 lead going into the 4:14 mark. It seemed the game was well at hand for the Panthers, but the Bears went on a run and clawed back into the game. At the half the Panthers lead 33-30. Church point sunk a bucket coming out the half, and then the Panthers later answered to retake the lead. Freeman drained another three pointer from the corner of the key with just over 5 minutes to go in the quarter.

The bandaged Carson, who previously suffered a laceration above his right eye, stopped bleeding but did not stop believing on the journey as he extended the lead 46-42 for the Panthers. He followed it up with another bucket to go up 48-42 and was good on the three-point play. Going into the final 8 minutes of play in Pine Prairie, the Panthers lead 49-47.

Freeman once again buried a three pointer to go up 52-47. With a full timeout called on the court at the 4:20 mark, the Panthers were high above the Bears by a score of 59-53. Carson buried another 3 pointer with just under a minute to play to go up 66-61 and to secure the win by a final score of 72-61.

With the win the Panthers are 6-0 in district and have a chance to finish district play undefeated and host the opening game in the playoffs. 

Pine Prairie Girls vs Church Point

Deflategate made its way from New England to Pine Prairie as the Lady Panthers hosted the Church Point Lady Bears Tuesday night. After the first quarter with the score tied at 11, the pressure in the game ball was checked to see if it was properly inflated. All jokes aside, the game ended up going under the win column of the Bears by a final score of 54-44. 

Church Point won the toss and got the first bucket on the night at the 6:50 mark. Britney Rider tied it up on an offensive rebound, and Taylar Deville gave the Lady Panthers an early lead at the 5:32 mark. Church Point went on a run to go up 9-6 before Rider tied it with a three point basket. Deville then got an offensive rebound and the basket to give the Panthers an 11-9 lead. Church Point tied it at 11 as the clock wound down in the first quarter.

            At the end of the 1^st half the score was tied 22-22. Church Point drained back-to-back three pointers to go up 28-23 at the 5:27 mark of the third quarter. The Lady Bears knocked down another 3 to go up 31-23. Kaitlyn Bradley connected with back-to-back buckets to pull the Lady Panthers within three points, and Sarah Vidrine picked up an offensive rebound and a bucket to climb within 1 at 31-30.

Church Point sunk a pair of free throws to go up 35-30 just before the buzzer sounded to end the 3^rd quarter and knocked down a series of jump shots to go up 41-33 with 5:02 to go in the game. A timeout on the court with 4:28 to go saw the Bears up 43-33, and the lead for Church Point remained in the double digits to close out the game and put an end to any deflategate conspiracy theories in Pine Prairie.

Renotta Edwards after the game was proud to get three competitive quarters from her squad. She is still hoping it can maintain that competitiveness for the whole four quarters.