The Parklane Pioneers went into Friday’s road contest at Jackson Academy looking for their second win straight against a Jackson team. And despite a valiant effort from a Pioneer team who played the majority of their game without leading scorer Jacob Gazzo, it could not pull through in the end losing to the Raiders 43-41.
Gazzo left the game with an ankle injury in the first half and even though he later returned, he was not 100%.
“Jacob Gazzo goes down with an injury and he plays less than 50% of the game,” Parklane head coach Josh Bass said. “And he couldn’t really get back going even though he tried to push through his injury.”
Without Gazzo for most the game, the Pioneers got solid play from others including a first quarter 3-pointer each from Ezra Pattie and Carson Simmons and five point efforts from both Hastings Carruth and Jay Long in the second.
While the play ramped-up a bit in the second quarter, Parklane could not get into a groove in the third. The Pioneers were limited to just five points in the quarter. On the other end of the floor, the Raiders picked up their offense following a slow second quarter. The Pioneers trailed 32-29 entering the final quarter of play.
Down the stretch, 3-pointers from Carson Simmons and Sean Artigues helped fuel the Pioneers but it was not enough as they came up just short against the Raiders.
Parklane girls fall to JA
Looking to turn things around following a rough go as of late, the Parklane girls were hoping to pull out a win at Jackson Academy Friday. But the Raiders had other ideas, implementing a shut-down defense on the Pioneers, handing them a 61-28 loss.
“Just a very strong JA girls team as usual,” said Bass who also coaches the girls team. “They are very intense on the defensive end and really limit your ability to get great shots. They do a great job there.”
The smothering defense from the Raiders limited the Pioneers to just eight first quarter points. It became more prevalent in the second as Parklane got only a field goal and free throw. Meanwhile, JA put up its best scoring quarter of the night with 21 points putting Parklane in a 32-11 hole.
From there Haven Hollis put the Pioneers on her back with a 10-point effort to finish with 15 but it wasn’t enough as the Pioneers fell.
