Playoffs Begin This Week
The Jena Lady Giants finished up their regular season this past week and will now turn their attention to the state basketball playoffs that begin this week.
This past week, the Lady Giants had the chance to do something that hadn’t been done in 20 years at JHS: Finish back-to-back seasons with 20 wins.
The Lady Giants came into the week with 18 wins on the season and they had two home games left to finish. They would have to do it without senior leading scorer Triniti Williams who was out another week with a knee injury.
On Tuesday, February 10, the Grant Lady Cougars would come to town. Grant would come into the game needing a win to help them secure a playoff spot while the Lady Giants were trying to stay at their #6 spot in their division. Grant would take an early 5-0 lead, but the Lady Giants would respond with a 17-0 run and would never look back as they would go on to win 72-47.
The Lady Giants would make 12 three-point shots in the ball game and would have ten different players score in the game. Lily Lacroix had 17 points, Ameera Jones had 13 points, Jacquelin Brooks had 11 points, Halle Phillips had 8 points, Sydney Williams had 7 points, Ahja Dorsey had 4 points, Heidi Crawford had 4 points, Andrea Brown had 3 points, Ziy’Mariya Gardner had 3 points, and Rylee Masters had 2 points. With the win the Lady Giants improved to 19-8 on the season.
On Friday night, February 13, the Lady Giants would finish up district play as the Marksville Lady Tigers came to town.
This one would be one sided from the start as the Lady Giants would take a 40-7 lead into halftime and then go on to win 66-10. Once again, the Lady Giants would have a balanced scoring attack as ten different players would score in the game.
Heidi Crawford had 14 points, Ameera Jones had 11 points, Lily Lacroix had 8 points, Sydney Williams had 8 points, Ahja Dorsey had 6 points, A’kiya Phillips had 6 points, Hallie Phillips had 4 points, Jacquelin Brooks had 4 points, Ziy’Mariya Gardner had 3 points, and Rylee Masters had 2 points.
With the win, the Lady Giants finished the regular season with a 20-8 record. This is the 2nd year in a row that the Lady Giants have 20 wins on the season. They now set their sights on the playoffs. Last year the Lady Giants earned the #9 seed and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to state runner-up Oak Grove.
This year the Lady Giants look to be the #6 seed. This would mean that their first-round playoff game would be at home on Thursday and if they win then they would get another playoff game at home in the 2nd round.
Check social media for times and opponents for the Lady Giants since the official playoff bracket was not released until after Monday’s newspaper press deadline. We will have you covered on all of the Lady Giants playoff games. You can listen on 102.7 KJNAFM. You can also download the MIXLR app and search for KJNAFM or go online at www.mixlr.com/kjnafm.
This week’s Lady Giants sports page is sponsored by Justiss Oil Company, Inc.
