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The North Lamar Pantherettes clinched the District 15-4A girls basketball title Friday night with a 54-42 win over the Paris Lady Cats in the Panther Gym.
The Pantherettes, 24-6 overall and ranked 21st in the state, are 9-0 in district with just one team remaining in their way of a perfect 10-0 run. They close out the regular season on Tuesday with a trip to runnerup Pleasant Grove.
Paris, meanwhile, is 15-14 overall, and at third place in district with a mark of 5-4. The Lady Cats host Pittsburg Tuesday in the Wildct Gym on their Senior Night.
Paris head basketball coach Ted Mackey threw everything he had, including the kitchen sink, at crosstown rival North Lamar Friday on Senior Night in the Panther Gym. He used his entire roster, substituting liberally and often to try to maintain fresh troops.
For 12 minutes, Mackey’s Lady Cats were flowing on a momentum stream to a 21-13 lead when the sink suddenly backed up. Paris senior Jazz Pipkins, responsible for 14 of her team’s 21 points in the early going, picked up her second personal foul and had to take up residence on the bench.
In her absence, the Pantherettes went on a 7-0 run and had cut the deficit to a single point, 22-21. That brought Pipkins back into the game and set up perhaps the key play of the evening.
NL sophomore point guard Madison Morrison quickly drove the lane where she was met by Pipkins on a hard foul. Morrison sank both free throws to give the Pantherettes a 22-21 lead at intermission.
When the teams returned to the court, Pipkins remained on the bench with 3 fouls. Mae Council drained a 3-pointer to briefly regain the lead for Paris, but by the third period midpoint, NL had a 32-28 advantage and Pipkins returned to the court.
The constant shuffling of players proved too much for the Lady Cats, who were caught with 6 players in the game and assessed a technical. Morrison made both, and the Pantherettes pushed on to a 40-30 lead heading into the final quarter.
Paris was able to whittle the lead to 7, 45-38, on a 15-footer by Council, but that was as close as they would get. With her rhythm disrupted, Pipkins could only add 6 more points to her game-high 20, and the Pantherettes were 20 of 32 at the foul line in the evening’s key statistic. Paris made only 6 of 15 free throws.
Morrison led the Pantherettes with 17 points, Kylie Halstead and Council each netted 13.
NL won a close JV game, 33-32, on a final-seconds basket.