Russell Hedges
rhedges@bossierpress.com
Bossier Parish District 1-5A teams went 0 for 3 as district play opened Friday night.
The Airline Vikings outplayed the Byrd Yellow Jackets for the final quarter and a half but couldn’t dig out of a deep hole in a 76-68 loss at Byrd.
Turnovers doomed the Haughton Bucs as they got down early in a 87-53 loss to the Captain Shreve Gators at Shreve.
The Parkway Panthers stayed within striking distance of the Southwood Cowboys most of the way before falling 75-64 at Southwood.
At Byrd, Airline stayed even with the Jackets early and trailed by only one going into the second quarter. The Vikings took a brief lead, but Byrd reeled off 14 straight points to go up by 13.
The Jackets (19-3) led by 15 at the half and stretched it to 23 early in the third. But the Vikings didn’t wilt.
They got within 16 by the end of the third and cut it to seven late in the game. The deficit was just too much to overcome.
Two freshmen led Airline (6-14) in scoring. KJ Bilbo had a big game with 18 points and also played well underneath the basket. Noah Hildebrand helped spark the late rally with a couple of 3-pointers and finished with 12.
At Southwood, senior guard Brodrick Jefferson scored a season-high 28 points to lead the Panthers (8-8).
Gabe Decuir and Juwon Johnson added eight each, and William McKnight had seven. John Parker led Southwood (12-8) with 21.
At Shreve, PJ Douglas led the Bucs (7-1) with 15 points. Ray Cole added 13 and Javonte Woodard 11. Jesse McWright paced Shreve (9-7) with 28.
At least one parish team will win its first district game Tuesday night as Airline travels to Parkway.
Also, Haughton visits district favorite Byrd.
