Pine Prairie girls are unable to fend off Iota

Pine Prairie had Iota on the ropes in Tuesday’s District 5-3A contest, but the Lady Panthers were unable to knock out the Lady Bulldogs in a 54-43 overtime loss.
“In the second half there were a lot of questionable calls, but we did our best to play through it,” Pine Prairie girls coach Renotta Edwards said. “We fought until the end. Asia (George) tied it up at the end to send us to overtime. We had multiple opportunities to win it, but we just didn’t get it done.”
Pine Prairie (12-6, 3-2) started off the game strong and held an 11-7 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Panthers maintained that lead through the second quarter and held a 25-20 lead at halftime.
“We had a strong first half,” Edwards said. “Shay Doucet stepped up and really took over in scoring and Asia George and Bryia Williams contained their best player despite both of them — and pretty much the entire team — being in foul trouble pretty much entire game.”
Pine Prairie remained in control entering the fourth quarter as its lead had increased to eight points.
Iota, though, would rally in the fourth outscoring Pine Prairie 13-5 and forcing overtime.
Iota took control in the extra period outscoring Pine Prairie 12-2.
Iota’s Avery Young scored six of her game-high 23 points in overtime, including four free throws.
Pine Prairie was led by Brashaylan Doucet who scored 14 and Kameron Allen who had 11.
“Overall we played well, and we most certainly will be ready for them when they come to us at home,” Edwards said.
With Friday’s game against Ville Platte High canceled due to COVID-19 issues with the Lady Bulldogs, Pine Prairie will have extra time off before its next game.
Edwards said her team will be taking advantage of that time.
“We have been working on closing out games,” Edwards said, “with mini scrimmages in different situations like being down two with five seconds on the clock or up one with a minute left. It’s just situational things. I don’t want that to be a reason we lose another game.”
What about the team’s next opponent — Church Point — a team they routinely split the season series with?
“Well we become lackadaisical when we play them for some reason, and they are a great team that has split with us every year,” Edwards said. “So I look for us to take the aggression and fire that the girls have built since our loss against Iota and bring it to them and every other opponent we face this year. “