Doubling up

BASILE – The Pine Prairie Panthers and Lady Panthers both showed why they are teams to be reckoned with in 2018, as they doubled up on tournament titles here this past weekend, each earning championship trophies in the Battle of Basile.
The Panthers took care of their half of the double dip by taking down inter-parish and district rival Mamou in a 49-46 win Saturday afternoon. The Lady Panthers did their part by sliding past Basile 41-36. The Panthers are now 7-1 on the year and the Lady Panthers improve their overall record to 11-5.
The Mamou Demons are now 7-9 with the loss, while the Basile Lady Bearcats fall to 10-6.
In the boy’s championship game, both Pine Prairie and Mamou got off to great starts. The Panthers, behind JJ Sims’ seven points took a 14-13 lead as the first quarter came to a close.
The second quarter belonged to the Demons. Spreading the wealth around on offense, Mamou was able to out pace Pine Prairie 9-5 to take a 23-18 lead heading into the locker room.
The two teams were at it again offensively in the third quarter. Both the Demons and the Panthers turned up the volume, with Pine Prairie earning a two point advantage 19-17 to keep it a three point spread for Mamou.
However, the fourth quarter proved to be the deciding period. The Panthers held back the Demon offense and hit on six of eight free throws down the stretch to put the game on ice.
Isaiah Payne picked up 19 points to lead the Panthers, while JJ Sims added 14 points and Raylin Thomas contributed 12 points. Mason Tinley knocked down 15 points to lead the Demons as Leandre Harrison tacked on 14 points.
The girl’s championship game, the Lady Panthers and the Lady Bearcats both began very slowly on the offensive side of the court. By the time the first quarter had come to a close, Pine Prairie owned an 8-5 lead over Basile
The Lady Bearcats ratcheted it up a notch on offense, utilizing several players for points. When the second period ended, Basile had out scored the Lady Panthers 14-9 and went into halftime with a two-point edge.
Not allowing the Lady Bearcats to control the game the way they had in the previous quarter, Pine Prairie put together a solid third quarter. Asia George and Brianna Wall combined for 13 points in the period to help the Lady Panthers gain a 16-10 advantage and take a four point lead heading into the final quarter.
Neither team could gain any momentum over the other in the fourth period. Pine Prairie was able to maintain their poise throughout the quarter to seal the win and the championship.
Kameron Allen led the Lady Panthers with 14 points, while George and Wall each pitched in 12 points. Caitlyn Deshotel was high scorer for Basile with 14 points.
In other boy’s tournament action, the Basile Bearcats fell to Westminster 58-38 in the consolation semi-finals. It was the sixth loss in seven games for the Bearcats. In the other consolation semi-finals, Iota beat East Beauregard 91-55.
There were no consolation finals because of a schedule conflict with Iota.
In the girl’s bracket on Friday, the Lady Bearcats beat the Vinton Lady Lions 39-37 to set themselves up in the finals. Also on Friday in the winner’s bracket, Kameron Allen scorched the nets for 16 points to lead the Lady Panthers past the East Beauregard Lady Trojans 48-32 to secure their spot in the finals.
In girl’s consolation play on Friday, the Mamou Lady Demons slipped past Westminster 30-29 to advance on in the tournament. Meanwhile, the Buckeye Lady Panthers picked up a 46-41 win over Church Point, while East Beauregard blasted Vinton 58-9.
Saturday’s action in the consolation bracket saw Buckeye beat Mamou 44-9 to earn a spot in the consolation finals against East Beauregard, who drew a bye. In that final game, Buckeye downed East Beauregard 56-33 to pick up the win.