As the final buzzer sounded Friday to mark the end of the regular season in girls basketball, area teams began to await their playoff fates which were announced Monday.
Once the brackets were released, three teams from the area learned they received a first round bye for their efforts during the year.
The Plainview Lady Hornets, with a record of 33-7, received a first round bye as well as the top seed in Class C.
“We’re just excited to get to start the playoff season and can’t wait to work this week and prepare for either Calvin or Georgetown next Monday,” said head coach Phillip George.
George’s team closed out the regular season with a 77-34 win over district rival Reeves. Madison Thacker, for the Lady Hornets, led all scorers with 17 points. Plainview’s Alex Harrison and Aryn Johnson each added 15.
For the Lady Raiders, Jordyn Gill and Rachael Harper each had 11 points.
Reeves ended the regular season with a record of 18-14 and received a first round bye as the number 6 seed in Class C. The Lady Raiders await the winner of the first round matchup between 11th seeded Epps and 22nd seeded Downsville.
“We went through some adversity in losing our best player 10 games into the season,” said head coach Mark Dronet.
“Once we lost her, we lost about five percent of our production. But, with my best two players being 8th graders, we were able to rebound and actually end up playing some good basketball and get that bye. So, we’re excited.”
He continued, “We love where we’re sitting now. We feel if we play our best basketball we got a chance to make a run to the Top 28, which is all you can ask for. We feel like Plainview is the best team in the state, but, after that, this thing is kind of wide open. There’s nobody else that you can consider a real dominant team in Class C. We like our chances, we really do.”
Also receiving a first round bye were the Fairview Lady Panthers as the number 3 seed in Class B.
“I kind of figured we would get the bye with the way everything fell,” said head coach Kyle Jinks. “But, it’s the playoffs now. We just have to go out and play. Everybody is going to be tough.”
The Lady Panthers ended the regular season with a 75-41 win over district and parish rival the Elizabeth Lady Bulldogs and a 22-10 overall record. Laynee Jinks from Fairview led all scorers with 26 points and scored six baskets from beyond the arc.
Mallie Ardoin was the only Lady Bulldog to score in double digits on the night with 10 points, and her team finished out the season with a record of 12-20.
Friday’s game was the second between the two teams on the season, and there is a possibility they could meet each other in the second round of the playoffs if Elizabeth can get past Glenmora on the road.
“We set a team goal to win a playoff game at the beginning of the season,” said head coach Logan Maddox. “To accomplish that in our first year together, after they went 2-25, would be a great first step for our program. We have three of the top five teams in the playoffs from our district, and the other teams are hosting a playoff game. We feel like our schedule has prepared us for anyone.”
On the possibility of playing Fairview, Maddox said, “Fairview isn’t on our minds at all. We are focused 110-percent on the task at hand with Glenmora. Anytime you go on the road in the playoffs is tough. They are coming off a district title, and Coach Sweat does a great job. Their scoring is very balanced. We will just focus on playing with effort, and, hopefully, we can pull one off.”
Jinks commented about the possible second round matchup, “Elizabeth is in our district, and we played them twice. It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row. I kind of didn’t want to play anybody in our district, but that’s how it fell.”
“Glenmora has been playing well,” he continued. “Whoever wins, that’s who we’re going to get. We’re just going to go out and see if we can win the game.”
Over in Class 2-A, the Oakdale Lady Warriors won a share of the district championship a year after winning an outright district title and reaching the state quarterfinals. They ended the regular season with a 15-12 record and the number 15 seed.
The season ended for Oakdale on Thursday with a 47-31 win over the DeQuincy Lady Tigers.
“We’re excited about being the 15 seed,” said head coach Mike Doucet. “From where we were in the past, we moved up several spots. We are looking forward to the playoff game at home. We got some young girls who have never been in a playoff game before. It will give them some experience needed to continue to build our program.”
Doucet’s team will host Livingston Collegiate. “I don’t know that much about them being a school near New Orleans,” he said. “They’re a fairly new school. I think this is the first year they have seniors, and I’m just looking forward to playing them.”
The other two programs in the parish, Kinder (13-12) and Oberlin (11-18) will make the long treks to north Louisiana tonight for their first round playoff games.
The Lady Yellow Jackets, as the 21st seed, will travel to 12th seeded Mangham. “Mangham is a good team, and we are going to go up there ready to play,” said head coach Natasha Morvant.
“This is the playoffs, and no game is going to be easy to win. I feel like these girls have prepared all season to be able to compete in tough games. However, the key to competing with them is for us to execute both offensively and defensively. I feel like as long as we work to win the hustle plays, defend, and rebound, then we will be able to compete with them.”
The Lady Tigers of Oberlin drew the 24th seed in Class 1-A and will face ninth seeded Haynesville.
“We’re excited about making the playoffs,” said head coach Jack Tinsley. “We’re looking forward to making that trip even though it’s a long trip. I’m hoping we’ll go there and do our best and put ourselves in a position to get a win on the road.”
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