The Benton Lady Tigers and Bossier Lady Kats are the sole Bossier Parish survivors after the first round of the high school girls basketball state playoffs.
Benton and Bossier both cruised to victories in Class 4A games at home.
The top-seeded Lady Tigers crushed No. 32 George Washington Carver 60-17. The fifth-seeded Lady Kats routed No. 28 Morgan City 56-27.
Benton (25-6) visits District 1-4A rival Booker T. Washington (16-13) in the second round at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The No. 17 Lady Lions defeated No. 16 West Ouachita 63-41 in the first round.
Benton swept BTW in district play in two competitive games. The Lady Tigers won 66-60 at home on Jan. 5 and 66-57 at BTW on Jan. 30.
Bossier (24-6) hosts No. 12 South Terrebonne (22-10) on Monday at 6. The Lady Gators knocked off No. 21 Lutcher 53-40 Thursday.
The Airline Lady Vikings, Parkway Lady Panthers and Plain Dealing Lady Lions all had their seasons come an end on the road.
In Class 5A, No. 29 Airline fell to No. 4 Ouachita Parish 51-29, and No. 31 Parkway lost to No. 2 Ponchatoula 66-36.
Airline finished 11-20 in head coach Lyndzee Greene McConathy’s first season. Parkway, making its first playoff appearance since 2012, finished 12-17.
In Class 1A, No. 17 Plain Dealing dropped a 36-35 heartbreaker to No. 16 East Iberville.
The Lady Lions closed their season 14-16.
At Benton, the Lady Tigers raced to a 25-0 first-quarter lead and led 37-3 at the half.
Emily Ward scored nine of her 17 points in the first quarter.
Qua Chambers scored 16 points with 10 of those coming in the first half. Jada Anderson added 11 points. Abbie Wynn scored all eight of her points in the first half.
At Bossier, the Lady Kats were also dominant.
Bossier led 14-3 after the first quarter, 28-6 at the half and 45-11 after three quarters.
Destiny Thomas and Kelcee Marshall paced the Lady Kats with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Marshall hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter and scored eight points. She finished with three 3s.
Nadi Thomas added seven points, all in the first half.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
