by Malcolm Butler
Choudrant head coach Brandy Robertson admitted to nerves impacting her team prior to Tuesday night’s in-parish battle against Simsboro.
And with leading scorer Reese Brown starting the game on the bench due to what Robertson termed “disciplinary reasons”, the Lady Tigers raced out to a 8-2 in the first two plus minutes.
The poor start didn’t help Robertson’s nerves as the Choudrant sideline boss called a quick timeout.
However, after inserting Brown into the game, Choudrant settled both their coach’s jitters and its own with a 19-2 run over the next seven minutes to take a double digit lead and never look back in defeating Simsboro 59-33.
“We had a lot of nerves tonight,” said Robertson when asked about her team’s inability to consistently convert point blank shots. “It’s a big Lincoln Parish rivalry. I knew it would have a playoff atmosphere. We definitely let our nerves take over at the beginning of the game.
“This is a very important game. And you never know what the outcome is going to be because both teams are dealing with nerves. It’s just such a big deal to the players on both sides.”
After scoring just two points in the first quarter and seven in the opening half, Brown erupted for 15 after halftime including 11 in the fourth quarter to help the Lady Aggies (14-9) coast to the non-district win.
Brown and fellow senior Sadie Jones looked like two veterans who had played a lot of basketball together, constantly finding one another cutting to the basket for quality looks.
“They have both been starting for me for three years and they are both veterans,” said Robertson. “They both have a lot of game experience, a lot of close game experience. They have both stepped up in leadership roles, especially this year.
“They do a fantastic job of screening and rolling and knowing (where each other are). They look for each other. They do a good job of playing off of one another in that aspect.”
The Lady Aggies extended a 15-10 first quarter lead out to 29-14 at the half and 44-23 at the end of the third quarter. Choudrant capitalized on its ability to get out and run in transition which resulted in some easier buckets to extend the lead.
“We have some depth this year so I was running my kids in and out,” said Robertson. “Our bench is deep and that is our philosophy. Why score in the half court when you don’t have to. I’d rather play 3 on 2 or 2 on 1 then 5 on 5.”
Robertson did admit that the Tigers athleticism bothered her team a little.
“We got out of our defensive philosophy with our full court man,” said Robertson. “Simsboro is so athletic and so quick. We went down the floor a few trips and it didn’t result in anything but us getting beat so we flipped it quick. I even thought about going to some zone, but I know when they get hot they can hurt you so we didn’t.”
Simsboro was led by Lazorreya Davis with 15 points, while Madi Mitchell and Bre Williams each netted six points.
Simsboro head coach Adam Wodach said his young team is just riding a roller coaster.
“We keep on saying growing pains and we keep on saying growing pains, but that is just where we are at right now,” said Simsboro head coach Adam Wodach. “I think it’s a matter of finding consistency. We have moments of greatness, and then we have moments where we just struggle.
“I don’t think the score reflected the entire game. We had some great moments. I just think our bad was not very good, and Choudrant punished us for it.”
In addition to Brown’s 22 points, Julie Groce netted eight points while Hannah Bryan and Kami Young each scored seven points.
