The Parkway Lady Panthers and Benton Lady Tigers won District 1-5A games Friday night.
Parkway took sole possession of the district lead with a 69-42 victory over Haughton at Haughton. It was the Lady Panthers’ 50th straight district victory dating back to the Covid season of 2020-21. Benton routed Byrd 51-22 at Byrd.
The Airline Lady Vikings came up just short at Huntington, falling 61-58. In the other 1-5A game, Natchitoches Central defeated Evangel Christian 59-2 at Evangel.
Parkway improved to 22-4 overall and 4-0 in district. Huntington (16-10, 4-1) and Haughton (22-3, 3-1) are tied for second in the loss column. Natchitoches Central (23-3, 3-2) is fourth.
In a District 1-4A game, Bossier defeated Loyola 52-31 at Loyola.
In a District 1-1A game, Plain Dealing fell to Cedar Creek 60-37 at Plain Dealing.
At Haughton, Parkway came into the game No. 1 in the Division I power rankings, according to GeauxPreps.com. Haughton was No. 4.
The first quarter was tight with the Lady Panthers taking a 14-13 lead. Then Parkway began to show why it’s No. 1.
Savannah Wilson hit two 3-pointers and scored eight points of her 18 points in the second quarter. Khia Thomas also sank a 3 and the Lady Panthers led 33-25 at the half.
Three-point shooting was one key for Parkway. The Lady Panthers had seven Haughton had just one and that came in the fourth quarter.
Parkway took complete control in the third quarter. Dakota Howard, who was a force in both ends of the floor, scored 11 of her game-high 27 points. Many of Parkway’s points came after the Lady Panthers forced turnovers and turned them into layups.
Thomas knocked down two more from behind the arc and Parkway led 55-31 going into the fourth.
Thomas finished with 16 points and four 3-pointers.
Skylar Branch led Haughton with 13 points. Shaniya Perkins had 11 and Bella Hammond 10.
Parkway visits Airline (16-5, 2-3) Tuesday. Haughton is at Benton.
At Byrd, Benton improved to 19-9 and 1-3. Byrd dropped to 3-21 and 0-5.
At Huntington, Airline led 41-35 after three quarters. Huntington rallied and took the lead. The Lady Vikings tied it at 52 on a 3-pointer with about three minutes left.
The Lady Raiders regained the lead with four straight points. Airline cut the lead to 56-55 on a free throw. Huntington then went up 60-55. A 3-pointer got the Lady Vikings within two with 5.5 seconds left.
The Lady Raiders made one of two free throws with 2.9 seconds left, and Airline was unable to to get off a good shot.
At Plain Dealing, Jakayla Douglas led the Lady Lions (12-12, 2-1) with 17 points. Brianna Newton added 10.
Alivia Lee led Cedar Creek (22-3, 3-0) with 22 points. Avery Ryan scored 15. Mallory Smith added 11.
At Loyola, Bossier improved to 8-16 and 1-2.
NOTE: Statistics provided by coaches or team’s’ official scorers.