Jonesboro-Hodge will play their Class 2A opening round girls basketball playoff contest against Pine High School at 2:00pm on Sunday at Weston High. The move was forced to be made due to the lack of water at the JHHS gymnasium which was also the reason that the contest, that was originally slated for Saturday, was pushed back a day. It will mark the second straight day that Weston High will have hosted a first round game, the first being Saturday evening, where home-standing Lady Wolves fell victim to Pitkin 63-61 in a thrilling, hard fought contest that was still in doubt as the final buzzer sounded.
Weston falls 64-61 to late Pitkin rally
(Saturday, February 20) The loss that ended the #15th seeded, Lady Wolves season with a 13-15 record was a bitter pill to swallow as #18 Pitkin led for only about four minutes in the entire contest and never until midway through the third quarter. . One has to look no further than to Abby Robinson’s late game heroics to find the catalyst for the Lady Tigers victory, who improves to 9-14 on the year and now moves on to play fellow district 5B rival and #2 seed Fairview this Tuesday.
Steals by Robinson on back to back Weston possessions helped give Pitkin their largest lead of the contest at 58-55 with a little over three minutes left. The long range, bombing guard who made a four trey’s on the night, including two critical trifectas in the fourth quarter then sank her final one with just 58 seconds left that gave Pitkin a 63-61 lead and put the proverbial nail in Weston’s coffin.
Were it not for Robinson’s play, who ended the night with 19 points, the story line would have been about Mallory Tolar’s determination all game and especially her play down the stretch in an effort to see her final season at Weston continue. Early in the contest it was her three pointer that boosted Weston to a 7-0 start that led to an 11-4 first quarter advantage. Over the next two quarters she stood her ground to take three hard charges that helped keep Pitkin at bay, who started the game by missing nine of ten three pointers before making six of their last seven. Then in a span of thirty seconds Tolar, who finished with 11 points, made two free throws and a strong driving layup to give Weston a 61-60 lead with just 1:18 to go.
Emma Kate Toms, Lakerria Austin and Briley Peterson, who scored 15, 14 and 11 points respectively to give Weston four players in double figures for one of the few times all year, also came up big for Weston. It was the crafty, ball-handling McBride that led the way early with all but three of her points in the first half on several strong drives to pace Weston to a 28-24 halftime lead. In the third quarter it was Austin, who made five of six free throws on the night, sinking four baskets early in the quarter and Peterson, whose game is way ahead of her 8th grade status, taking over late in the frame with six of her points that gave Weston what seemed like a commanding 52-46 lead with only a quarter to play.
Photos by Kristie Tolar:
| #15 Weston (13-15) | 11 | 17 | 24 | 9 | 61 |
| #18 Pitkin (9-14 | 4 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 64 |
WHS scoring: McBride 15, Austin 14, Peterson 12, Tolar 11, Hay 5, Bond 2, Trosclair 2
PHS scoring; Robinson 19, McAlister 13, Nolen 10, Perkins 9, Thompson 7, Nelson 3
Bell City to play Quitman in regional round
The Bell City Lady Bears, seeded #13 in the Class B playoffs beat #20 Negreet 46-38 this past Saturday afternoon to earn the right to make the long trip from Lake Charles to Quitman to face the #4 seed Lady Wolverines in a contest that is tentatively set for Tuesday, February 22nd.
Bell City enters the contest with a 15-7 record and hails from district 7B which is the home #1 ranked Hathaway, #6 Lacassine and #7 Midland giving it honors as the strongest overall district in Class B. By virtue of their lofty seeding after their stellar 23-2 season, the Lady Wolverines, who were the undefeated champions of district 2B, drew a first round bye