Parkway’s first District 1-5A game against the Huntington Lady Raiders Tuesday night figured to be a tough one.
The Lady Panthers were more than up for the challenge. A fast start helped Parkway roll to a 60-47 victory at Huntington.
The Lady Panthers avenged a 55-52 loss to the Lady Raiders at home on Dec. 17 in a non-district game.
Tuesday’s game featured a battle between two of the state’s top teams.
Huntington (13-9) came in ranked No. 2 in the select Division I power rankings. The Lady Raiders had won 49 straight district games, all in 1-4A. Huntington moved up to 5A this season.
Parkway (18-4) came in ranked No. 2 in non-select Division I. The Lady Panthers were riding a 46-game district winning streak.
With five players contributing to the scoring, Parkway jumped out to a 17-8 lead after the first quarter. Dakota Howard scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half and the Lady Panthers led 29-21.
Savannah Wilson came up big for the Lady Panthers in the second half, scoring 17 of her team-high 21 points.
In the third quarter, Wilson hit two 3-pointers and scored all 10 of Parkway’s points. The Lady Panthers limited Huntington to six points and led 39-27 going into the fourth.
Parkway was 9-of-13 from the free throw line in the fourth.
Jasmyne Hendrix chipped in 10 points. She helped Parkway get off to the fast start with six points in the first quarter then added four more in the fourth.
Khia Thomas added eight points and Kenadie Loche had six, including four free throws in the fourth.
Carley Hamilton led Huntington with 24 points.
Parkway hosts Natchitoches Central (19-2, 0-1) Friday. The Lady Chiefs’ game against Byrd scheduled for Tuesday was postponed.
In the other District 1-5A games Tuesday, Airline downed Evangel Christian 67-5 at Evangel and Benton fell to Captain Shreve 76-37 at Shreve.
In a non-district game, Bossier defeated Plain Dealing 55-42 at Bossier.
Haughton’s non-district game against Arcadia was postponed.
At Evangel, Ke’Zyriah Sykes and Addison McDowell led Airline with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Nia Williams and Amari Mosley scored 10 each.
Airline (16-2, 2-0) hosts Captain Shreve (19-4, 2-0) Friday.
At Bossier, Zamarion Carter poured in 26 points to lead the Lady Kats (7-14). Adrianna Gooden added 14.
Carter hit two 3-pointers and scored 20 points in the first half. The Lady Kats led 34-26 at the half and extended the lead to 47-34 after three quarters.
Brianna Newton led Plain Dealing (9-11) with 22 points.
At Captain Shreve, Taylor Brown and Kryshna Bostic led Benton (17-9, 0-2) with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Leah Bryant led Captain Shreve with 19.