The Lady Panthers recently finished an amazing season after playing in the Final Four in Jackson.
Despite multiple obstacles during the season, the girls never gave up and demonstrated a strong determination to succeed no matter what.
“We made it all the way to Jackson. We started out a little rough,” stated Coach Jennie Vance. “We’ve had a lot of obstacles this year. We lost players along the way to various things, and we kept at it and kept trying hard. We’ve had a five game skid in the middle of the season, and they could have folded at that point. We were playing ranked teams. We were close. We were in the game. We just couldn’t get it done. We won 13 out of the last 15 and made it to Jackson to play Pontotoc who’s been ranked one all year and in our class. We broke in the top ten right there at the end of the season, and we got to Jackson.”
While in Jackson, the girls played their best and didn’t give up. Although they were unable to recover and pull out the win, the coach is proud of the effort and determination each of them showed on the court.
“When we got to Jackson, we got behind early but won the last three quarters,” explained Coach Vance. “That’s just been indicative of them all year. They’ve played hard. We’ve had young people have to step up. We have an eighth grader playing this year. My juniors did most of the scoring. Aaliyah Nixon and Audriana Harris were our leading scorers. Then we had a little sophomore who did a lot of scoring and rebounding. Our guards could rebound so well. We had two seniors that stepped up at the end. We were playing really good defense, and we just played with a lot of heart and a lot of tenacity. It paid off for us in the end.”
Making it to the semifinals isn’t the only success the Lady Panthers experienced this season.
“We won the District Championship regular season and the district tournament,” proclaimed Coach Vance. “Audriana Harris got best offensive player in the district and also made the Junior All Star Team for the North South All Star game. I was awarded All Star Coach. We will play that on March 18. Aaliyah Nixon, Jahyla DuBose, Kevondra Simmons, and Kiarra Thompson got All District 5-4A. ”
The players know that the accomplishments they’ve made are thanks to the hard work and diligence they’ve displayed this year.
“We practice during the summer playing other teams and stuff,” informed Audriana Harris. “We did a lot of after school so we could have everyone in the gym practicing with us, and we played against the boys to try and get better. I think this season went well. My favorite thing was just playing with my teammates and being there. I was sad that we didn’t go into the next level, but I know that we will be better next year.”
With most of the team returning again for next season, they have already made preparations to go even further next year.
“We’ve already started working on our summer schedule,” expressed Coach Vance. “We’re going to go play the team that put us out at state. We’re going to go play them this summer. We’re going to play everybody we can to get better. We always play a lot during the summer, and I think that always pays off for us during the season. We have two new teams coming into our district next year: Morton and Forest. They’re coming from 3A, and they both went to Jackson this year as well. Our district will be a lot of fun next year. We have almost everybody coming back, and we’re just looking forward to getting better and going back again.”
Congratulations on a great season!
