Bossier Press-Tribune Online

The Bossier Bearkats and Airline Lady Vikings advanced to the semifinals of the Doc Edwards Invitational basketball tournament Thursday.
The Bearkats outlasted Green Oaks 34-26 in a boys’ quarterfinal game at Bossier.
Claire Crawford hit a 8-foot baseline jumper with 18 seconds left to lift Airline to a 48-47 victory over the Benton Lady Tigers in a girls’ quarterfinal game at Airline.
Bossier faces Mansfield, a 69-46 winner over Airline, in one boys’ semifinal tonight at 8:30. Captain Shreve plays Ouachita, a 73-64 winner over Parkway, at 5 in the other.
Airline takes on Byrd in a girls’ semifinal game at 7. Mansfield faces Nacogdoches, Texas, in the other at 4.
All four semifinals are at Airline.
Three Bossier Parish teams are still alive in the consolation bracket.
Haughton faces Red River at 8:30 in a boys’ semifinal, while Huntington meets Pelican in the other at 5:30.
In the girls’ semifinals, Haughton plays Captain Shreve at 4, and Bossier meets Green Oaks at 7. All consolation semifinal games are at Benton High.
The Bossier boys had an off night shooting the ball against Green Oaks, but their defensive play made up for it.
The Bearkats led 17-16 at the half and almost held the Giants scoreless in the third quarter.
Green Oaks hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for its only points of the quarter. But Bossier managed only six and led 23-19 going into the fourth.
The Bearkats finally pulled away with six straight points to begin the fourth, including four by Devonte Hall.
Demonte Wills led Bossier with 12 points. Hall and Tevin Robertson scored eight apiece.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, and we didn’t execute offensively like we should have,” Bossier coach Jeremiah Williams said. “Defensivley, you hold a team to 28 points, that’s a good defensive effort. Problem is, we only scored 36. They did a good job of slowing it down ... Ultimately, we’ve got to knock down shots. Hopefully, we shot all our bad ones tonight.”
The Airline-Benton girls game went back and forth.
Megan Fream hit a free throw to give Benton a 47-45 lead with 41.1 seconds left. Tasha Shiflett’s free throw got Airline within one with 34.6 seconds left.
The Lady Vikings then gained possession on a jump ball. Nikki Bryant missed a shot from the baseline, but Crawford grabbed the rebound and put it back in.
Madi Sessions almost won it for Benton, but her short jumper rolled over the basket and out at the buzzer.
Crawford scored seven of her nine points, including a big 3-pointer, in the fourth quarter.
Shiflett led Airline with 14 points, and Jasmyn Carswell added 12. Fream and Sessions had 15 points each for Benton.
Mikayla Barber scored 13 points to lead Haughton to a 53-25 victory over Carthage, Texas in the consolation quarterfinals
Tiffany Lynn scored 14 points and Bree Williams had 11 in Bossier’s 57-32 victory over North Webster.
Parkway’s Chris Yates scored 26 in the loss to Ouachita. He had 37 in a 96-85 first-round victory over Pelican Wednesday.
Andrew Latson led Airline with 17 in the loss to Mansfield.