The Benton Lady Tigers handed the defending state champion Captain Shreve Lady Gators their first district loss in two years Tuesday night at Benton.
Behind Jada Anderson’s 32 points, the Lady Tigers defeated the Lady Gators 63-59.
Benton ended Shreve’s 26-game district winning streak.
Captain Shreve (18-6, 10-1) still leads Benton (21-5, 9-2) by one game in the District 1-5A standings. Each team has three games left.
The Lady Tigers were No. 1 in the Class 5A power rankings posted on the LHSAA website Tuesday. The Lady Gators were No. 3.
In the other 1-5A games involving parish teams, Parkway defeated Southwood 59-51 at Parkway and Haughton downed Airline 51-33 at Airline.
At Benton, the Lady Tigers knocked down five 3-pointers in the first quarter, including three by Anderson, and rolled to a 24-11 lead.
Anderson scored 12 in the second quarter. The Lady Gators got 10 from Addison Martin. Benton maintained the 13-point lead at the break.
The Lady Tigers cooled off in the third quarter, scoring just seven points. Jordan McLemore hit two 3-pointers and Shreve sliced the lead to 51-45.
With about two minutes left, Benton led 55-53. Shreve scored three straight to go up 56-55. But the Lady Tigers closed the game with an 8-3 run.
Benton’s Qua Chambers, who finished with 14 points, was 5 of 7 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Anderson was 3 of 4. Alisa Harris had a big two-point basket.
Martin led Shreve with 19 points, and McLemore added 15.
Benton avenged a 70-61 loss at Shreve on Jan. 10.
At Airline, Taralyn and Takaiyah Sweeney led the Lady Bucs (13-11, 4-7) with 22 and 17 points, respectively.
Airline led 20-12 at the half. Haughton rallied in the third. Takaiyah Sweeney hit three 3-pointers and the Lady Bucs outscored the Lady Vikings 21-8 to take a 33-28 lead.
Taralyn Sweeney took over in the fourth, scoring 13.
Kayla Hampton led Airline (14-15, 2-9) with 13 points. Taaliyah Johnson added 11.
At Parkway, Mikaylah Williams scored 17 to lead the Panthers (20-7, 6-5) to the victory. She got help from Sh’Diamond McKnight (13 points), Bianca Oliver (10), Madison Collins (eight) and Jada Hardy (eight).
Parkway led 28-25 at the half and 43-41 after three. The Lady Panthers outscored the Lady Cowboys 16-10 in the fourth.
Williams scored six in the final period. She was 4 of 4 from the free throw line.
Southwood dropped to 15-8 and 5-6.
