The Gibsland-Coleman Lady Bulldogs (17-6) survived a close matchup against the Doyline Lady Panthers in Doyline on Tuesday night. A small comeback was to pull out the win. On the boys side, Doyline Panthers (18-2) started hot and never let off as they picked up their 15th straight win for the season.
GIBSLAND-COLEMAN LADY BULLDOGS 52, DOYLINE LADY PANTHERS 42
Jamaya Jackson came out of the gate with the hot hand as she pushed the Lady Bulldogs to an early 9-0 lead in the first quarter. The Lady Bulldogs held on for an 11-5 lead after the first quarter. Doyline struggled to make shots. Their first field goal didn’t fall until Tiffani Brown tipped in five minutes into the quarter. Lady Panthers had to rely on free throws for the remaining eight points of the quarter. Gibsand-Coleman took advantage as they shot 6 of 13 from the field and extended their lead to 26-15 at halftime. They would need those points in the third. Unnika Miller barreled to the basket constantly at the start of the second half drawing falls and layups scoring as she scored a quick seven points. The Lady Bulldogs focused on stopping Miller and Keily Sumlin took over as she scored another four points and the Lady Panther had caught GCHS at 26 in the first four minutes of the third quarter. Sumlin scored another followed by Brown and Doyline was up 30-26. Samora Sampson snapped the 15-0 run with a three. The Lady Bulldogs quickly took back the lead with another basket from Sampson and survived the third quarter with a 33-30 lead. The Lady Panthers were too close for comfort to Gibsland-Coleman as the Bulldog defense kicked in with three steals, two by Jackson and another by Ke’Honesty Williams. The LadyBulldogs spurned a late 10-0 run to take the win.
According to Gibsland head coach Andrew Haulcy, the defense was the key for the tight win. “We started slow. Nobody shot the ball well. I think our defense got us back in the rhythm. A lot of calls didn’t go the way that we thought they should. We hung through it all and pulled it out. Like I tell them, it was an ugly win, but a win is a win.”
Jamaya Jackson scored 19 points on her big night for the Lady Bulldogs. Ke’Honesty Williams chipped in 10.
Keily Sumlin ferocious lane offense scored 15 points. Emori Leonard and Unnika Miller each contributed 10 points.
DOYLINE PANTHERS 74, GIBSLAND-COLEMAN BULLDOGS 47
Decari Markray booked the Panthers with an explosion of nine points out of the gate and the Panthers were up 9-0 before the Bulldogs knew it. Two more threes by Markray and another from Jordan Fuller extended the lead to 20-6. Jamaria Clark popped another three and was fouled on the last shot in the closing seconds of the first quarter. Clark nailed all three free throws. Doyline had taken a commanding 31-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Decari Markray had a monster quarter with 12 points alone in the quarter. Doyline maintained their 25 point lead throughout the second. In the last two minutes, the referee whistles blew loudly against the Panthers. The Bulldogs answered with 5 of 8 free throws. The Panthers went to the locker room up 47-25. Gibsland-Coleman made halftime adjustments and came out aggressive and closed the gap to as close as 18 points. After a timeout by the Panthers, they pushed the throttle again and pushed another 11-0 run. The tension got high between the two teams and after a delay, the two decided to have a speedy fourth quarter as Doyline closed out the win.
Coming out of the holiday break left some unknown expectations for Doyline Coach Mike Normand. “Coming off the break, you never know what it’s going to be like. Sometimes you come out sluggish. I thought we came with a lot of energy at first. We kind of built a pretty good lead and then we played a little too much street ball in the second. We allowed them to get back in the game. We settled down at halftime. We got back to playing our game in the third and on.”
Decari Markray led the Panthers with 21 points. Javeon Nelson piled in 16. Jordan Fuller scored 12. Jamaria “Juicy” Clark squeezed out 10.
Terrence James-Gray bucketed 21 points for Gibsland-Coleman.
The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will be back on the road as they head north to take on Haynesville. Doyline will get to be cozy at home again on Friday night as they face Downsville.
This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links. I will only recommend products that I have personally used! Learn more on my Private Policy page.