By T. Scott Boatright
The Lady Aggies put themselves in the “Catbird’s Seat” Friday night as they remained undefeated in District 2-B with a 42-29 victory to lock up a season sweep of Simsboro at the CHS Gym.
Reese Brown did the driving for the Lady Aggies, pouring in 16 points while Sadie Jones added eight and Brelyn Pyle and Piper Jackson chipped in with six each for Chourant.
The Lady Tigers kept things tight early on, allowing Choudrant only a one-point advantage at 8-7 heading into the second quarter.
But the Lady Aggies battled back in the second stanza, outsourcing the Lady Tigers 14-6 to build a 22-13 lead at intermission.
One more District 2-B victory over either 2-18 Downsville Charter, which is winless in league play, on Tuesday or at Forest, which has only one district win over DCHS, on Friday will lock up the district title for the Lady Aggies, who stand at 13-17 overall and 4-0 in district play.
“It was awesome — I just kept telling my girls we should secure it with a win,” said CHS Brandy Roberson. “Our gym was super packed-out. We hadn’t played in an atmosphere like that all season. It was loud. It was crazy.”
But early on, Roberson wasn’t convinced her team would walk out with the home win.
“We came out a little rattled,” Roberson said. “We didn’t start off very good and Simsboro came ready to play.
“And when you come down to it, our two top players, Reese and Brelyn, really didn’t play that well — not like they’re capable of. They both had four fouls early in the fourth quarter. Reese had four in the third quarter. So, I was really worried about one of them fouling out.”
Simsboro cut into the CHS lead in the third quarter, slicing a point off the Lady Aggies’ advantage as Choudrant held a six-point advantage at 30–24 heading into the final eight minutes of action.
That’s when the Lady Aggies took over at the charity stripe, with Brown connecting on all five of her free throw attempts while Pyle netted all four of her tries to propel the Lady Aggies to the win.
“In the end, Reese and Brelyn played really smart in that fourth quarter and neither fouled out,” Roberson said. “And they both made huge free throws when we needed them. We normally struggle at the free-throw line, but they stepped up and made them when it mattered. We didn’t really show up until later in the game.”
In addition to playing host to Downsville on Tuesday before playing at Forest on Friday, the Lady Aggies will play at Ouachita Parish High School on Wednesday.and at undefeated Claiborne Christian on Thursday.
“We’re right on the brink of making that cut for the 28 teams that will go to the playoffs,” Roberson said. “We’re at 32 in the power rankings right now, so we’re hoping getting points playing against those two teams — even if we don’t win we’ll get points playing two powerhouses like those two are — and of course taking care of business with our remaining two district games will be enough where we won’t have to play the No. 1 team if we get in.
“Heading into the season, our goals were to get more wins than last year, win district and make the playoffs. Now we just need to make sure we finish strong, especially in district, and hopefully we’ll accomplish all three of those goals.”
