The Parkway Lady Panthers and Haughton Lady Bucs won District 1-5A games Saturday.
Parkway edged Southwood 43-42 at Southwood and Haughton downed Airline 54-38 at Haughton.
In a battle for sole possession of the district lead, Benton fell to Captain Shreve 70-61 at Shreve.
Defending district and 5A state champion Shreve (12-5, 4-0) leads the district. Benton (15-4, 3-1) is second followed by Natchitoches Central (8-7, 2-1), Parkway (16-4, 2-2), Southwood (12-4, 2-2), Byrd (13-6, 1-2), Haughton (10-7, 1-3) and Airline (12-10, 0-4).
In non-district games, Bossier topped Wossman 59-31 at Bossier and Plain Dealing defeated Lakeview 53-51 at Lakeview.
At Southwood, Parkway bounced back from a tough overtime loss against Benton on Tuesday.
Mikaylah Williams led the Lady Panthers with 20 points. Jada Hardy added nine.
A strong defensive effort helped Parkway build a 17-12 first-half lead. The Lady Panthers took a four-point advantage into the fourth quarter.
Williams scored 12 in the second half, including five in the fourth. She and Hardy hit 3-pointers in the third quarter.
Kennedee Shelton and Raven Johnson led the Lady Cowboys with 14 points each.
At Haughton, Taralyn Sweeney poured in 33 points to lead the Lady Bucs past Airline.
Sweeney scored 18 in the first three quarters to help Haughton take a 35-28 lead.
In the fourth, she was 8 of 11 from the free throw line and also hit a 3-pointer en route to 15 points.
Zahria Shyne added eight points for the Lady Bucs.
Airline had trouble getting going offensively in the first half, scoring just 12 points. With Kori Rice and Kayla Hampton scoring six each, the Lady Vikings tallied 16 in the third quarter to stay within striking distance.
But Airline had no answer for Sweeney in the fourth and Haughton pulled away.
Hampton paced Airline with 14 points. Rice chipped in with eight and Toria Brocks had seven.
At Shreve, Benton got off to a good start and led 21-13 after the first quarter. But the Lady Tigers cooled off in the second and the Lady Gators got within one at the half.
Shreve took a 51-47 lead into the fourth. Benton rallied from much bigger deficits to win its last two games against Red River and Parkway, but the Lady Gators extended the lead.
Qua Chambers and Jada Anderson led Benton with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Alisa Harris added 14 and Makaila Antwine eight.
Shreve’s Jordan McLemore led all scorers with 26. Addison Martin added 21.
Free throws were a key factor in the game.
The Lady Gators were 20 of 22 from the line, including 8 of 8 in the fourth quarter. McLemore was almost perfect, sinking 11 of 12. The Lady Tigers made just 4 of 17.
At Bossier, Sanaa Brown poured in 21 points to lead the Lady Kats.
Jazmin Ford added 14 and Kelcee Marshall eight.
Brown scored 15 in the first half as Bossier (9-9) rolled to a 36-11 lead.
At Lakeview, Dana Wainwright led Plain Dealing with 24 points.
Zakiyah Williams added 12 and Laterrica Stewart 11.
Plain Dealing (8-10) has won three in a row.
