The Impact Report: Heavyweight Fight or Something Else

The anticipation was for a heavyweight battle between Washington’s 6-foot Junior Chamiah Francis and Biloxi’s 6-foot Sophomore Zaniya Johnson. This was a matchup billed as a clash of the two post players, but as the game unfolded, it became clear that the true battle was in the trenches

The undefeated Lady Wildcats, known for their pressure and physical defense were not able to rattle the Biloxi Lady Indians, led by the steady Senior Guard Aaliyah Davidson.

The Lady Indians took control early, ending the first quarter with an 11-4 lead, despite Johnson being sidelined with an ankle issue for a portion of the period. The second quarter Washington would close the gap to within three, on more than one occasion. But Biloxi responded, taking the 26-20 lead into the half.

Washington was unable create turnovers or transition from defensive rebounding. Biloxi was great on the offensive glass.

Junior Guard Na’Kenya Terry was a key contributor, grabbing three offensive rebounds and battling fiercely against the taller 5’9” Lady Wildcat Freshman Jada Clardy in the half court. Clardy finished with 10 points.

It was a team effort to contain Washington's Francis, who was forced to the free-throw line 14 times, knocking down eight, leading the team with a double double 14 total points and 10 rebounds..

The younger of the two 6 footers, Biloxi's Johnson scored 8 pts with 8 rebounds. The eye test... Johnson though skilled has not yet gain the self confidence the more experienced Francis showed in the battle.  

That's where it pays not to go into a fight alone. The team effort led the Biloxi Lady Indians to victory remaining undefeated and handing the Lady Wildcats their first loss of the season.

The Lady Wildcats look to get back to winning on Dec 6th versus the PHS Lady Tigers.  PHS took the Wildcats to overtime last season and are looking to extend their current three game winning streak coming off a victory against Pine Forest on Dec 3rd.

The Pine Forest Lady Eagles jumped out to an early lead, looking to  take advantage of their  size  against the smaller Lady Tigers. Early foul trouble for PHS Senior Zion Perkins limited her first-half minutes and was a huge blow to the Lady Tigers' scoring ability. Pine Forest did not capitalize on Perkin's absence, instead allowed the undersized Sophomore Chioma Patterson to keep the Lady Tigers within striking distance. Patterson scoring nine first-half points.

Perkins return in the second half helped the Lady Tigers to outscored the Lady Eagles 15-10, taking a slight 28-25 lead into the final quarter. Pine Forest struggled to respond to the increased pressure, continuing to turn the ball over, adding to the offensive stall were the struggles of the post players shooting just 7-for-23 in the paint.


The Pace Lady Patriots and the West Florida Lady Jaguars were also on the busy Dec 3rd girl's  schedule. Pace fresh off a win versus Milton started off pretty evenly with West Florida until the Lady Jags intensified their defensive pressure, spearheaded by the length and energy of Sophomore Forward Damani Nicholson. The defensive pressure pushed the Lady Jaguars forward to a 16-12 lead after the first quarter. With balanced scoring from all the starters, West Florida built a substantial lead. This allowed WF to give the Lady Jag bench valuable first-half minutes without compromising the comfortable 36-19 advantage ending the half. 

The Lady Patriots returned to the court despite the double digit deficit, fighting hard to put a dent in lead but couldn't match the speed of West Florida's Senior Guard Shania Beeks.

Beeks helped maintain score 46-26 at the end of the 3rd. The Lady Patriots still refused to quit, picking up their defensive pressure outscoring WF 8-7 in the fourth.  Yet the end result was still a 19 point win for the Lady Jaguars 

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