Strong performances by Madison Klein and Jasmine Bonty led the French Camp girls basketball team to it highest point total in nearly four years in a 70-62 victory over Coffeeville. It was the most points scored by the Lady Panthers since a 77-31 win over Montgomery County in February 2015.
“Offensively, it was our best game of the season. We still have some work to do defensively,” said coach Priscilla Anderson.
Klein had 25 points while shooting 9-16 from the floor and 4-4 from the line, six assists and five rebounds. Bonty scored 21 points on 9-13 shooting and pulled down 12 rebounds.
The Panthers were defeated by West Lowndes 66-24. Calvin Johnson had a team-high 12 points.
The Panthers and Lady Panthers were set to play Grace Christian Tuesday and have a Region 5-1A game at McAdams Friday.
As a team, the Lady Panthers shot 60 percent (24-40) including three for five on 3-point shots.
After Klein scored 15 first half points, Coffeeville went to a box-and-one defense against her. “That’s when other players started stepping up,” Anderson said.
The Lady Panthers led 33-21 at the half, but a big third quarter by Coffeeville ended tied 46-46 before French Camp pulled away in the final period.
Klein also had a strong performance against West Lowndes in the first game after Christmas break, connecting on 9 of 11 shots and scoring 21 points. But it wasn’t enough in a 60-45 defeat.
It was also the first game after three French camp students were killed in a Christmas Eve house fire in Collierville, Tenn.
“We were playing, but our heads were not in the game at all,” Anderson said.
The three students – two girls and a boy from the same family – were missionaries from India who attended French Camp as boarding students. “It was an emotional game for us,” Anderson said. “They (Lady Panthers) had classes with them, they were in the choir with them, they had art with them, some lived in the dorms with them.”
