A rough week for French Camp basketball saw the boys team lose twice and girls once.The Panthers fell to 1-3 in Region 5-1A play with road losses to West Lowndes 70-61 and McAdams 61-44. The Lady Panthers are 1-2 following a 50-34 loss to West Lowndes.The French Camp-McAdams girls game was postponed because McAdams is quarantined, the result of one player testing positive for COVID-19. It has been rescheduled for Feb. 1.The Panthers suffered a slow start in both games. Against West Lowndes, French Camp trailed 16-8 after the first period. “We couldn't make a shot the first quarter,” coach Robert Leathers said. “We gave up way too many second chance baskets. We didn't block out very well.”The Panthers did have balanced scoring, something the team has lacked in many games. Darrion Smith had 17 points, C.J. Johnson 14, Coleman Mackenzie and Ethan Chesser 11 each and Nickalaus Winters 8.It was a similar story against McAdams, with a 34-21 halftime deficit. “We came out in the third quarter and just ran them off the court,” Leathers said. “We came back and tied the score. We just ran out of gas.”Smith had 18 points and Johnson 11. Jaylan Perteet and Cameron Fleming had 19 points each for McAdams.“We have to get more production out of number 3 through 7,” Leathers said. “Teams know they can guard two of our players and not really guard the rest of them.”GirlsJasmine Bonty had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to West Lowndes, the defending region champion.''I don't think we played that badly,” said coach Polly LeVert. “We played better than the Ethel game,” a 40-39 loss four days earlier.In region games, the Panthers and Lady Panthers played Nanih Waiya Tuesday and will be at Noxapater Friday. French Camp swept Noxapater Jan. 5.There is an urgency to region games because a tentative schedule for the region tournament wil have only four of the six teams qualifying for the region tournament, eliminating the other two from playoff contention.
