The French Camp girls basketball team saw its season end with a 41-26 loss to homestanding Leake County in the opening round of the MHSAA 1A playoffs. Jasmine Bonty led the Lady Panthers with 11 points.
Leake County was the regular season and tournament champion of Region 7-1A.
French Camp qualified for the playoffs by finishing fourth at the Region 5-1A tournament hosted by McAdams, with a victory over Nanih Waiya and losses to unbeaten West Lowndes and McAdams.
The 62-48 victory over Nanih Waiya was the Lady Panthers' third of the season against the Lady Warriors, and the most decisive. One week earlier, French Camp won 37-35.
“We played well,” said coach Polly Levert.
Sophomore Taylor Benoit led French Camp with a season high 18 points. Bonty had 15 points and 16 rebounds and Grace Ann Wade scored 12 points.
French Camp jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first minute against West Lowndes on a basket by Bonty and a three-point shot by Wade. It was close throughout the first quarter, with West Lowndes taking a 17-13 lead at the end of the period when Marvaysha Seals hit a three-pointer in the final seconds.
Seals made two more treys early in the second quarter as West Lowndes increased the lead to 25-15 and the Lady Panthers never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
West Lowndes made five three-pointers in the first half. “We were going to let them shoot a bit because in the previous games they didn't make any three-pointers,” LeVert said of the two regular season games between the teams. She added “I'm proud of my team. They played hard.”
Wade scored 13 points and Bonty had 11.
With a 57-37 victory over Ethel in the tournament final, West Lowndes improved to 22-0 heading into a playoff game with Stringer Monday as the state's only unbeaten team, boys or girls. West Lowndes puts constant pressure on opponents with an aggressive full court press.
Against McAdams in the consolation game, French Camp rallied from a 33-26 halftime deficit to lead 40-36 late in the third quarter. After a time out, McAdams pressured French Camp, rallying for a 46-42 lead after three quarters on its way to a 58-51 victory.
“More than anything, we ran out of gas,” LeVert said, pointing out that it was the team’s third game in four days.
Jordan Carter led French Camp with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Bonty and Wade each scored 10 points. Kiara Brown had 20 points for McAdams.
