For the nine from JHHS and seven from Quitman High School the night couldn’t have gone any better. Not only were the seniors associated with the basketball teams from both schools honored in fine fashion the boys and girls teams for both won district battles in convincing fashion.
The festivities started at Jonesboro-Hodge where before the girls basketball contest the following were recognized:
Yahzmynne Andrews and Chamya Waters – Girls Basketball
Cornelius Boston, Edward Kary and Davion McGuire – Boys Basketball
Ja”Kaya Phillips and Amber Melton – Cheerleaders
Maya Vega – Cheerleader Manager
Amerson McQuinn – Anthem Vocalist
(Boys) JHHS 72 D’Arbonne Woods 49 – After it was all said and done there was really only question about this one. Was it a plan for Seniors Cornelius Boston and Edward Kary to both drain a three pointer and score more points by themselves in the first quarter than the entire DWC team? The pair was just two of five players to make three pointers on the night that saw J-H drain made 8 trey’s in all.
The Tigers took a seven point lead after the first period and blew it open in the second half in the Tigers district 1-2A opener that marked a season best fourth win in a row. Twelve players in all tallied, including the other honoree on the night, Davion McGuire, who also got a trey and ended with 7 points. Kary was the top long range bomber with three trifectas on his way to 11 points followed by a pair from behind the arc by Tydre Malone, who scored ten. Team leading scorer Justin Calahan (12 points) and Ajay Tew (5 points) were the other two deep deadeyes.
| Jonesboro-Hodge (7-4, 1-0) | 12 | 19 | 15 | 26 | 72 |
| D’Arbonne Woods (5-13, 0-2) | 5 | 21 | 8 | 15 | 49 |
JHHS scoring: Calahan 12, Kary 11, Malone 10, McGuire 7, Joe 6, Andrews 5, Tew 5, Gray 5, Boston 5, Mozee 2, Holden 2, Leonard 2
DWC scoring; Riser 15, Davis 12, Archer 12, Godina 6, Roberson 2, Auger 2
(girls) JHHS 33 D’Arvbonne Woods 26: The two senior honorees, Chamya Waters (8 points) and Yahzmynne Andrews (4 points) scored six and two points respectively in the third quarter to help lead JHHS to a 15-6 advantage that proved pivotal in giving the Tigers their second straight district 1-2A win and saddle D’Arbonne Woods with their first loss. Xabrianna Jackson added five of her team high fifteen. Zymea Hoggro chipped in with seven on the night as J-H won their tenth of the year in the defensive battle that saw both teams scored in single digits in three of the four quarters.
| Jonesboro-Hodge (10-5, 2-0 | 9 | 4 | 15 | 5 | 33 |
| D’Arbonne Woods (7-10, 2-1) | 2 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 26 |
JHHS scoring: Jackson 15, Waters 8, Hoggro 7, Andrews 4
DWC scoring: Scoskle 10, Fine 9, K. Hayes 4, Phelps 2, A. Hayes 1
Wolverines sweep Weston as girls clinch district 2B title
The scene of the combined gala event then shifted to Quitman High School when in between the girls and boys game these Seniors were honored.
Joshua Smith, Cooper Williams, Ethan Everett – Boys basketball
Clara Womack – Girls Basketball / Cheerleader
Harley Burns, Gracie Robinson – Cheerleaders
Brooklyn Bond – Boys and Girls Team Manager
(boys) Quitman 77 Weston 48 – The three seniors (Ethan Everett, Joshua Smith and Cooper Williams) that took center court before the game scored every point for Quitman in the first quarter that saw the Wolverines race out to a 22-3 lead. Everett led the way with ten of his twelve on the night while Smith (9 points) and Cooper, who was games top scorer with 22, added six each. Blake Carter also stepped up to finish with 14, one of his best games of the year.
The victory snapped a two game losing streak for the Wolverines who improved to 16-5 overall and more importantly 3-2 in district 2B play, which guaranteed Quitman of finishing no worse than in a tie for second place. Jace Holt scored 19 and Freshman Braden Theriot addeed 12 to lead Weston who saw their late season slide continue to a season worst five games and left the Wolves winless after five tries in 2B play and 9-18 overall.
| Quitman (16-5, 3-2) | 22 | 16 | 14 | 25 | 77 |
| Weston (9-18, 0-5) | 3 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 48 |
QHS scoring: Wililams 22, Carter 14, Everett 12, Smith 9, Ponder 6, Manning 4
WHS scoring: Holt 19, Theriot 12, Shirley 7, Roberts 4, Henderson 3, Tolar 3
(Girls) Quitman 68 Weston 53: Quitman clinched their first outright district title since 2017 by scoring eight points before Weston got on the scoreboard. As bad as the start was, it got worse for Weston as the lone Quitman senior on the squad, Clara Womack, made seven straight points on the strength of three straight steals to up the lead to 15-3 on the way to a commanding 46-13 halftime advantage.
Eighth grader Cali Deal had a season high 19 and Bethany Leach added 13 as Quitman improved to 22-2 which represents a north Louisiana best record among “non-select” schools and a perfect 5-0 with only regualr season final against Simsboro on Friday left.
Weston, who scored 28 points in the fourth quarter against only two for Quitman to make the final score more respectable after Quitman coach Kyle Leach had emptied the bench, was led by eighth grader Briley Peterson’s 13. Late season bloomer Lainee Trosclair added nine and Emma Kate McBride scored seven for the Lady Wolves who saw their overall season record evened at 13-11 and district slate fall to 1-4.
| Quitman (22-2, 5-0) | 19 | 27 | 20 | 2 | 68 |
| Weston (13-13, 1-4) | 7 | 6 | 12 | 28 |
Tuesday’s Topper: Saline works overtime to clip Castor 80-72
Desperation often helps a team play better than they normally do. This was evidenced Tuesday evening when Saline had to work overtime to defeat home-standing Castor, who was giving it all they had to try and win their first District 1B contest in the last one of the season. The result was the best game of the night and earning the designation as the Tuesday Topper.
The two Bienville Parish rivals went at it tooth and nail in the contest that had more swings to it than the school playground. Castor went into the half with a 30-27 advantage and feeling good that they had gotten Saline post, Ethan Roberts, who had led the Bobcats in scoring in the first two quarters with 8 points, in serious foul trouble. Jacob Jones also came up big for Saline early on with seven points in the second quarter.
A primary factor in why Saline has orchestrated a major improvement this season after suffering through winning only 3 of 27 games last year is the play of the two Titus’s, Malone and Jackson. Knowing Roberts was not going to be effective this night, Bobcats head coach Klint Robinson told the two at the break they would have to pick up the scoring slack. They both responded and in a big way.
Malone scored 8 points in the third, including four on a pair of rim rattling dunks and Jackson added six through hitting four of four from the foul line and the Bobcats limited Castor to just three points to reverse the three point deficit into a twelve point lead. Knowing they had a big deficit to make up the Tigers, who fell to 4-14 overall and 0-6 in district 2B play refused to go down without a fight and started bombing away from behind the arc.
When the buzzer sounded denoting the end of the very entertaining fourth quarter that saw the two teams combine for 54 points and had fans from both sides screaming their support it was necessary to play five additional minutes as Castor had made five trey’s and scored 31 points, which was a season best mark for a quarter to tie the score at 64 apiece.
In the extra frame Jackson and Malone took over to make 8 and 6 points respectively and lift Saline, who improved to 8-8 on the season and 4-2 in 1B play to victory, which secured a second place finish in district. Malone ended the night with 33 points with Jackson checking in with 24 points Despite fouling out early in the third period, Roberts managed to reach double figures in points with ten. Castor was led by Clark who tallied 24 and Young with 13.
| Saline (8-8, 4-2) | 13 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 15 | 80 |
| Castor (4-14, 0-6) | 13 | 17 | 3 | 32 | 6 | 71 |
SHS scoring: Malone 33, Jackson 24, Roberts 10, Jiles 7, Crawford 4, Clifton 1, Williams 1
CHS scoring: Clark 24, Young 13, Jordan 9, Matheus 8, Shuley 7, Sales 6, Cooper 6
Additional Tuesday scores:
Boys: Arcadia 60 Homer 56; Calvin 80 Harrisonburg 38; Simsboro 94 Choudrant 40; Doyline 97 Dodson 54; Pineville 73 West Ouachita 64; Lakeview 65 Winnfield 53; West Monroe 54 Ruston 51
Girls; Homer 40 Arcadia 26; Calving 35 Harrisonburg 24, Cedar Creek 55 Sicily Island 10, Choudrant 45 Simsboro 38; Doyline 69 Dodson 37; Lincoln Prep 32 Haynesville 28; PIneville 46 West Ouachita 27; Lakeview72 Winnfield 48; West Monroe 42 Ruston 27