The brackets for the LHSAA girls basketball state tournament has been released and for the two of the three Jackson Parish schools that will participate, the road to “Marsh Madness” starts at home. For the other the travel is even easier as they received a first-round bye and then gets a second-round home game.
District 1-2A champion Jonesboro-Hodge and Weston, who finished second in district 1B will both host first round games at their respective gymnasiums at 6:00 pm on Thursday. District 1B champion, Quitman, received an opening round bye.
The Lady Tigers received a #16 seed after finishing the regular season with a 13-13 and winning the district championship with a perfect 6-0 record. Their opponent will be #17 Pine High, who finished the regular season with a 14-8 overall record tied for second in district 9-2A with a 7-3 mark. The winner of that contest earns a date at #1 ranked Amite (27-2) who was the champion of district 9-2A.
The home game for the Lady Tigers was somewhat of a surprise to the casual observer as when the regular season ended JHHS was listed at #18 in the rankings with a 31.75 power point rating. Pine, who had a better overall record and higher power point rating (32.38) was at #16 with Port Allen coming it at #17 after finishing with a 31.76 rating. By virtue of their district championship though JHHS received an extra power rating point which allowed them to leap frog both in the playoff seedings.
While the Lady Tigers will play a school they have never met before, it is a completely opposite scenario for Weston. They know their opponent very well and have already played them twice before this season, the last time just one week ago.
Choudrant High (19-14, 1-3 will be the Lady Wolves first-round opponent, setting up a “rubber game” between the two, neighboring district 1B schools separated by roughly 15 miles as the crow flies. With a 17-12 overall record and 2-4 mark in district play, Weston will look to buck the trend seen in the games between the two this season as both won on their opponent’s home floor.
The Lady Wolverines, who had a 45.85 rating, also ended up benefitting from their district 1B title as it jumped the Lady Wolverines from #10 to #8 after earning the extra point. With the top eight receiving byes, Quitman gets to rest before playing. They will await the winner of #9 Anacoco (19-13) and #24 Simsboro (8-19) another district 2B foe for a regional round contest slated to be played on Tuesday, February 22nd at Quitman.
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