Battle in Basile

Parish teams participate in Bearcat tournament
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BASILE -- The Battle in Basile hard court tournament got underway here Wednesday afternoon and features teams as far away Rapides and Beauregard parishes, as well as a handful of Evangeline Parish clubs, including Mamou, Pine Prairie and host team Basile.
The tournament was scheduled to run through Saturday, with the girl’s finals set for 4:45 p.m. and the boy’s finals set for 6 p.m. The Gazette will have semi-finals and finals coverage in Thursday’s edition.
Wednesday’s action began with the Mamou Lady Demons battling parish foe Basile in a girl’s contest.
This game was a tight one throughout, as the Lady Bearcats led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter and 13-12 at the close of the first half en route to a 34-31 win.
A 16-8 advantage in the third quarter put Basile up by 10 as the third quarter closed. Mamou tried to mount a comeback, outscoring the Lady Bearcats 12-5 in the final period, but it was too little too late.
Reagan Ledoux knocked down 20 points to lead Basile, while Brianna Thibodaux picked up nine points to pace the Lady Demons.
Game two on Wednesday featured another parish showdown between the Mamou Demons and the Basile Bearcats with Mamou controlling the entire game in a 69-41 win.
The Demons use precision passing and tough pressure defense to roll out to a 23-6 lead in the first quarter. Basile gathered themselves in the second period, but not enough as Mamou outscored the Bearcats 17-16 as the Demons headed into the locker room with a 40-22 lead.
From that point on Mamou put into cruise control and outpaced Basile 29-19 in the final two quarters.
Mason Tinley scored 19 points to lead Mamou, while Abdul Mlingo collected 22 points for the Bearcats.
The final girl’s game on Wednesday saw the Pine Prairie Lady Panthers use a big first and fourth quarters to take down Church Point 42-31.
Pine Prairie led 10-4 after one quarter of play and 17-12 at the half.
The Lady Panthers lost a three point advantage, 11-8, in the third quarter, but finished strong outscoring the Lady Bears 17-8 in the final period.
Brianna Wall had 12 points to lead Pine Praire.
In the final game of the day, the Iota Bulldogs blasted Westminster 75-38.
On Thursday, the Vinton Lady Lions crushed Westiminster 42-11.
Kyrin Green scored 19 points to help lead Mamou to a 69-58 win over East Beauregard in the first boy’s game on Thursday. That win put the Demons in Saturday’s finals.
The East Beauregard Lady Trojans blew past Buckeye in game three on Thursday to advance on to the semi-finals.
A pre-district match-up finished out the day on Thursday as the Pine Prairie Panthers met up with the Iota Bulldogs for the second time this year. And, for the second time, the Panthers found a way to get past their district rivals, as they took down the Bulldogs 68-61 in the most exciting game of the first two days.
Pine Prairie utilized the three-point shot to their advantage in the first quarter, with Isaiah Payne hitting on three shots from beyond the arc, to take a 15-9 lead.
The two teams scored the exact number of points combined, 36, in the middle two periods to put the score at 51-45 Pine Prairie as the third quarter closed out.
The Panthers bested the Bulldogs by one point, 17-16, in the final quarter to close out the game.
Payne finished the game with 24 points, while Raylin Thomas tacked on 15 points and Jordan Ardoin posted 12.