The Haynesville Lady Tors took the District 1-A title on Saturday afternoon at neutral site Arcadia with a 52-35 win over the Homer Lady Pels. The two teams had tied for the district title on Thursday night as the Lady Pels took the last regular-season district game on senior night at Homer. Normally, teams would allow a share to occur and designate a team to get the bonus power ranking point. Too much was on the line for each time in their playoff strategy to let it go that easily. “More important than anything seeding,” Haynesville Coach Connie Robinson-Tell said. “We needed that point to put us in a position to get some home games in the second round. That point will make a difference later on down the road of who we play and where we play. That’s a big deal for us.” This valuable bonus point could be the difference between a possibly securing as much as a second-round game and possibly a quarterfinal home game if upsets occur. Homer also could benefit from the bonus point which could possibly move them in a better position as a second-round home game. The two decided to settle the district championship question with a neutral site game at Arcadia on Saturday afternoon.
The game started as a defensive struggle as the first three minutes the game was tied 2-2. The first basket by the Lady Pels was a start to a 6-0 run. The Homer defense started to double team Marissa Tell and tried to contain her. Tell scored a layup and broke the Lady Pels defensive grip. Tell began to take offensive attention away from herself. Shontellas Shine scored four under the basket and Za’Kharria Jones busted a three to go on a 9-0 run to give the Lady Tors the 11-6 lead heading into the second quarter.
Tell continued to feed Katelyn Webb and Jones on fast breaks. Jones scored five in the second quarter. Jordan Shelton tried to keep Homer within reach as she scored all five points in the second quarter. Haynesville went into halftime with a 20-11 lead.
Tell exploded for 10 points in the third quarter as the Pels struggled to score. Threes by Kerston Webb and JaMaya Williams tried to keep the Lady Pels within the game as Haynesville took a 34-18 after three quarters.
Jordan Shelton finds her groove in scoring as she went on she scored 12 in the final frame. The problem was that Tell’s hot hand in the third quarter rolled into the fourth. Tell scored another double digit quarter with 10 points. Jones added to the Lady Tors heat as she added another 7. Haynesville finished with a district championship and the valuable bonus power rank point with the 52-38 win.
Marissa Tell scorched the nets and the boards with a double-double again. Tell scored 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Tors. Za’Kharria Jones bucketed 15 points. A’Mirracle Allen put in an impressive six rebounds and seven assist for the day.
Jordan Shelton scored 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 steals for the Lady Pels. Jerniyah Curry banged the boards for an impressive 8 rebounds.
“If they continue to play like they did today, we were clicking on all cylinders, offense and defense,” Coach Robinson-Tell said. “We can make a run.” Coach’s daughter, Marissa Tell said this was one checkmark on her list of things to accomplish this year. “This was really big. I got to make my statement that I want to come back (a reference to the article “A Wisdom to Tell”) as district champs. Back to back district champs.”
The Lady Tors and Lady Pels will find out their playoff fate tomorrow. Marissa Tell is ready. “We’ll come with the same intensity, same heat,” Tell said. “Hopefully, we will go further than we did last year.”
She has more to check off on her list. “As I said, I want a ring.”
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