By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — The New Year’s celebrations continued for the Lincoln Preparatory School girls basketball team Friday night as the Lady Panthers made program history with a 55-2 win over Haynesville at the LPS Gym.
That 53-point margin of victory was the biggest ever for the Lady Panthers, who moved to 6-11 on the season.
Haynesville’s lone basket came early in the first quarter as the Lady Panthers’ smothering defense decimated the Lady Golden Hurricane (0-9) from there as Lincoln Prep built a 21-1 lead by the end of the opening stanza and a 35-2 advantage at halftime.
“It’s coming together slowly,” said Lady Panthers coach Fred Hearn. “It’s about building trust in knowing we’re going to get the ball where we want it to go. We want to get the ball to the post. That’s where we usually have the mismatch, so we just have to keep pounding the ball inside.”
Synniah Spann led Lincoln Prep with 14 points while Asijah Wright added 12, Shedreana Green chipped in with 11 and Jayleen Spann hit for eight points for the Lady Panthers.
A 35-point advantage off a Synniah Spann layup started a running clock for Lincoln Prep at the 6:45 mark of the third quarter.
The Lady Panthers pushed their lead to more than 50-points at 53-2 on a Ajah Saulsberry layup with 3:22 remaining.
Haynesville had one last chance to add to its points total with 7.4 seconds left on the clock but missed both free throws, allowing Lincoln Prep to run out the clock.
Hearn admitted it wasn’t easy keeping his squad focused in the second half but he was pleased to see his younger players get some key playing time.
“It’s hard to keep them in a game with a score like that, but they have to understand they have to keep on executing and be ready for the next game. That’s the way we treat our practices. We practice tough and go hard.
“Of course that wanes at times, but that makes It good to be able to get those young players into the game and see some success. That made it a good, overall team run. So all in all I was pleased with the effort.”
Next up for the Lady Panthers is a road game on Tuesday at Madison.
“We’ve got Madison, Ringgold and Homer over the next two weeks, so we’d love to turn that into a four-game winning streak heading into district play. That means taking things one game at a time, and it all starts Tuesday at Madison.”
