Featured photo courtesy of Connie Kay Kitchings Coker
It simply wasn’t meant to be.
The No. 1 seed Parkway Lady Panthers fell to No. 3 Zachary 54-41 in the non-select Division I state championship game Saturday night at Southeastern Louisiana’s University Center in Hammond.
The Lady Broncos denied the Lady Panthers’ bid for a third straight championship. Parkway played for the title four years in a row, winning championships in 2023 and 2024.
Parkway closed another outstanding season 29-5. Zachary finished 26-5.
“I tip my hat to these young ladies. They played a heck of a game tonight,” said Parkway Head Coach Gloria Williams, who brought six of her players to the the postgame press conference. “I’m proud of every last one of them that’s up here, everybody that’s on the team. I think they gave it their best shot.
“Credit to Zachary. They have some amazing players.”
Playing in her final game, Parkway standout Dakota Howard scored 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Savannah Wilson, another senior, scored 11 points.
The Lady Panthers played their usual solid defense. They forced 22 turnovers and scored 20 points off those.
The difference in the game was rebounding and shooting.
The Lady Broncos dominated the boards, outrebounding the Lady Panthers 49-25. Especially critical were Zachary’s 23 offensive rebounds.
Parkway shot just 30.4 percent (17-of-56) from the field. Forced to put up 3-pointers once they got behind, the Lady Panthers were just 2-of-17 from behind the arc.
“When the ball is not falling the way you’re used to it’s going to be a tough night,” Williams said. “And we had that happen tonight. Credit to them. We got in the lane the way we wanted to. We just couldn’t finish around the rim or knock down shots.”
Zachary shot 39.2 percent (20-51), including 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
One of Zachary’s biggest 3s came after a Wilson basket cut what was an eight-point Lady Broncos’ lead to 44-41 with just over three minutes to play.
Ava Raymond knocked down the 3 with 2:34 left, pushing her team’s lead back to six. The Lady Panthers went scoreless the rest of the game.
Tiarra McPipe, named the game’s MVP, and Raymond led Zachary with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Raymond had 12 rebounds and McPipe eight.
Parkway started slow and trailed 13-7 early in the game. The Lady Panthers rallied and trailed by just 15-13 after the first quarter.
In the second, it looked like Parkway was going to take control. The Lady Panthers started the quarter with a 10-2 run and led 23-17.
But Zachary closed the half with a 6-2 run, cutting the Lady Panthers’ lead to 25-23. It remained tight in the third quarter. The Lady Broncos took a 34-32 lead into the fourth.
Zachary started the fourth with an 8-2 run to take the eight-point lead.