No. 12 EIHS falls to fifth-seeded Lady Panthers in regionals
NEWELLTON – No. 12 seed East Iberville led by 12 points at the half but couldn’t hold off fifth-seeded Tensas in an 84-68 Class 1A regional playoff loss on Thursday at Newellton Elementary School.
The Lady Tigers (18-14), under coach Cormanda Grace-Green, advanced to the regionals in consecutive seasons and were District 9-1A runners-up. Tensas (24-4) moved on to face No. 4 Central Catholic in the quarterfinals.
“The season as a whole owes us nothing,” Grace-Green said. “It was a good year despite all of the injuries and setbacks. I truly believe if every one were healthy from the start of the season to the end, East Iberville would have won their first Class 1A state championship.
“We are losing six wonderful girls this year. They will always be a special set of young ladies that East Iberville will always be proud of. After graduation, you will still be hearing great things about them no matter what their future endeavors are. I know some may count us out but we are not finish making noise just yet. It's going to be an interesting season next year.”
East Iberville jumped out to a 24-15 lead going into the second quarter and led 38-26 at the half before the Lady Panthers tied it 52-52 headed into the fourth.
“Even though we lost the game, my girls played their heart out,” Grace-Green said. “They are state champions in my book. There were some controversial calls made throughout the game and it really hurt in the fourth quarter. We had three girls foul out in the fourth quarter and their bench was too strong for us to overcome this.
“Tensas is a very aggressive team that likes to face guard you and press all night. They want to score off of turnovers and transition. Our game plan going in the game was not to get into a running game with them and minimize our turnovers. We played a 2-3 zone to make them run their offense that is almost non existent and we executed our game plan very well.”
Taylor Green led the Lady Tigers with 17 points. Ja’Laycia Mills added 16, Jasmine Mosby 12, Chelsea Green 11, Kirstein Oubre 10 and Kaitlyn Knight two. Other East Iberville seniors include Nadia Rodriquez and Marlana Stewart.
“Taylor Green had the best performance of her life handling the ball for us,” Grace-Green said. “She attacked their press sometimes single handedly by herself.”
Mary Jones and Daricka James each had a game-high 18 points for the Lady Panthers. Helena Hill added 15, Chelsea Nash 11, Brittany Ramo nine, Kristen Ricard seven and Kaza Sampson six.
