The Jena Lady Giants finished up their regular season this past week getting two big wins and setting the stage for a deep playoff run that begins Thursday.
The Lady Giants played a non-district game at home against Dodson on Tuesday, February 11 and the final district game at Marksville on Friday, February 14. The Lady Giants were looking to finish the season strong and get back on track after the tough loss at Buckeye.
The Lady Giants would find their shots again in the win over Dodson. Jena would jump out to a 31-3 lead in the first quarter and would go on to win 65-21. The Lady Giants made seven three-point shots in the game.
In the game for the Lady Giants, Ameera Jones had 14 points, Ahja Dorsey had 10 points, Halle Phillips had 9 points, Triniti Williams had 9 points, Heidi Crawford had 8 points, Sophie Parker had 6 points, Jacquelyn Brooks had 4 points, Sydney Williams had 3 points and Kaylee Hardie had 2 points.
Last Friday, the Lady Giants traveled to Marksville to take on the Lady Tigers. Both teams came into the game with 4-1 district records. The winner of the game would finish as district runner-ups to Buckeye while the loser would finish in third place in district.
The Lady Giants would take an 18-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter would be low scoring as both teams struggled on offense. The Lady Giants would take a 29-20 lead into halftime. But it would be in the third quarter that the Lady Giants would put the game away. They would finish the quarter on an 18-4 run to take a 58-33 lead into the fourth quarter. In the third quarter the Lady Giants made five three-point shots. The Lady Giants would end up making 10 three-point shots in the game and would go on to win 62-41.
The Lady Giants had 11 different players score in the game. Triniti Williams had 11 points, Halle Phillips had 10 points, Kaylee Kemp had 9 points, Noel Kimbrough had 6 points, Sydney Williams had 6 points, Ahja Dorsey had 6 points, Kaylee Hardie had 6 points, Amerra Jones had 3 points, Rylee Masters had 2 points, Heidi Crawford had 2 points and Jacquelyn Brooks had 1 point. In total for both games this past week, the Lady Giants made 17 three-point shots in their two wins.
The Lady Giants finish the regular season with a 19-10 overall record and 5-1 district record. The job that Coach Garrett Hoffpauir and staff have done with this team has been incredible and they are just getting started. They now set their sights on the playoffs.
Brackets will be released after this newspaper went to press but the Lady Giants are expecting to go into the playoffs ranked #9. ( The Jena Times will post all playoff information on Facebook when it is announced) The Lady Giants’ first round playoff game is expected to be at home this Thursday night. The gym should be packed for this playoff game to give these Lady Giants a great home court advantage as they deserve for all of their hard work this season.
If you can’t make it to the game, then you can hear all the live action on 102.7 KJNAFM. If you are not in the listening area then you can download the MIXLR app and search for KJNAFM or go online at www.kjnafmjena. mixlr.com.
Photos from them Marksville game:
