The French Camp boys and girls basketball teams played Winona Christian and Nanih Waiya last week, with opposite results.
The boys defeated Winona Christian, but lost to Nanih Waiya, while the girls had a victory against Nanih Waiya but were beaten by Winona Christian.
Prior to the end of the football season in an opening round playoff loss to Stringer, the basketball team had nine players, but only two with any court experience. Six football players joined the team, but there were no practices prior to the Winona Christian game.
“They turned in their football jerseys at 3 o’clock and got on the bus (to Winona Christian) at 4,” said coach Robert Leathers.
The Panthers built up a 32-21 lead over Winona Christian through three quarters and held on for a 40-38 victory. Cameron Smith led balance scoring for French Camp with eight points. Clayton Leathers and Everett Holland had seven each, Ethan Chesser six and Daniel Robertson five. Chesser came off the bench after Robertson suffered a knee injury.
“We missed a lot of free throws and we had a lot of turnovers. But I was proud to see them hustle and play good defense,” Leathers said.
The Nanih Waiya game was close the whole way. Nanih Waiya led 32-30 at the half and 46-42 through three quarters before winning 58-54. Leathers scored 19 points for the Panthers, Calvin Johnson 18 and Holland 11.
GIRLS
Madison Klein totaled 43 points and Jasmine Bonty had 27 rebounds in a 58-41 win over Nanih Waiya and a 44-31 loss to Winona Christian.
The Lady Panthers led Nanih Waiya 25-17 at the half and pulled away after intermission. It was the team’s best game of the season, according to coach Priscilla Anderson.
“Offensively, we finally started to click,” she said.
Klein had 24 points and Bonty 18 points and 12 rebounds. “Jasmine played really well,” Anderson said.
Against Winona Christian, Klein scored 19 points on 9 of 12 from the floor and Bonty had 10 points and 15 rebounds. But the rest of the team managed only two points.
“We weren’t sure what we were doing offensively,” Anderson said. “We weren’t taking good shots and we turned the ball over too much.”
After a week off for Thanksgiving, the Panthers and Lady Panthers play at J.Z. George next Tuesday and have a home game with Pisgah the following Friday.
