The Parklane Pioneers had two distinctly different games on Monday night at home.
The girls lost to a top-ranked Oak Forest team 68-54, while the boys beat an undermanned Yellow Jacket squad 62-26.
A poor start dug the Lady Pioneers a 13-point hole by the end of the first quarter. Turnovers led to eight of Oak Forest’s 21 points to open the game, while it took Parklane nearly five minutes before their first field goal, which came on a Lindsay Clark turnaround jumper.
The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 20 midway through the second quarter,but Parklane switched to man-to-man defense and leveled off the game from there to the half.
In the second half, Parklane gained six points off the Yellow Jackets, but couldn’t narrow it any closer than 16.
“I stressed before the game we needed to take care of the ball, limit their shots and hit the boards,” Parklane head coach Russell Cruise said.
None of that happened in the first quarter, but as the game wore on the Pioneers put the plan into action.
Clark accounted for nearly half Parklane’s rebounds with 14. She also scored 23 points. Kellen Choate added 17 and Caitlin Adams put in nine.
“They’re ranked No. 1 or 2 for a reason,” Cruise said. “We definitely could’ve played better.”
The girls turn their sights to Wilkinson County Christian Academy tonight at home.
The boys, had turned their sights to WCCA early on Monday night. After blanking Oak Forest in the second quarter, the Pioneers focused on what they’d need tonight to avenge their 53-48 loss to WCCA a week ago.
The Yellow Jackets were missing 13 players because their football team is still in the hunt for the MPSA AA Championship.
Six players suited up on Monday and the majority of the second half was working to fine tune Parklane’s offense.
“We got to work on a lot things tonight,” Parklane head coach Ricky Gray said. “We were trying to sharpen the offense.”
Blake Brown led the Pioneers with 14 points, while fellow starter Parker Moore finished with 10. Point guard Kyle Adams finished with seven points.
The second wave of Pioneers also contributed just as much with Nick Penn scoring 10 and Jared Bullock and Chet Wilson finishing with eight points each.
The Pioneers have played two games since the last time they faced WCCA and tonight’s game at home will be Gray’s litmus test for where his team is at.
“WCCA is going to be a contender,” Gray said. “This is big for me. It will tell me where I’m at.”
