Basketball heating up at Pine Prairie High School

By: LANCE REED

Sports Editor

There is lots of round ball action going on at Pine Prairie High School right now. The Panthers are coming off of two tough losses to Jena High School, but are also getting ready to host the Pine Prairie Invitational Basketball Tournament.

The Lady Panthers fell to the Lady Giants of Jena 60-49. Pine Prairie held a lead going into halftime, 27-24.

The JHS girls turned it on in the second half, out-scoring the local girls 36-22. The Lady Panthers fought hard against their Class 3A opponent, but could not overcome the second-half surge.

Chelsey Rider led the team with 16 points, including nine points in the second period. Kassidy Crawford chipped in with 12 points in the contest.

The PPHS boys slipped in a nail-biter to the Giants. Pine Prairie came out strong and traded buckets throughout the entire first half. They were down 22-24 at the intermission, but still very much in the game.

The see-saw battle continued in the second half all the way to the buzzer. The Giants electrified their home crowd with a game-winning shot with very little time left on the clock.

Kelly Allison led the Panthers with 15 points, while Corey Ardoin put up 12 points. Kendall Celestine ended the night with nine points.

The Panthers traveled to Rapides High School Friday night.

The PPHS Invitation begins this Wedenesday night at Pine Prairie High School. The girls get things started first at 3:30 p.m. when the host team meets St. Ed’s. At 5 p.m., Sacred Heart will take on Northwood.

The boy’s bracket gets started at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Northwood meets Sacred Heart and then Pine Prairie faces off against Pickering at 8 p.m.

Thursday the action continues. The boys get on the court first. St. Ed’s and Bunkie meet at 3:30 p.m. The winner of that game plays Rapides Friday at 8 p.m.

In the girl’s bracket, St. Mary’s and Pickering High School collide at 5 p.m. That game will be followed by a match-up between the Lady Panthers of Bunkie and the Lady Mustangs of Rapides.

The finals will take place Saturday at 6 p.m. (girls) and 7:30 p.m. (boys).

Courtesy of the Ville Platte Today