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Story Archives: All-Parish Basketball announced
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All-Parish Basketball announced
After leading the Ferriday High football team to the playoffs, Trojan senior Richard Jefferson was under the radar as a guard for the Ferriday basketball team.
He didn't stay there long after leading the Trojan boys basketball team to a first round contest against Riverside.
"Some people think if you are good in one sport you cannot be good in another," Jefferson said. "But I counted a lot of my hand-speed and quickness."
Jefferson is only the second player to earn All-Parish Football and Basketball Player of the Year awards. Vidalia's Tony Hawkins accomplished that feat in 2003 and 2004.
Jefferson started slow after football, but became the team leader by district time.
"After football was over I knew I had to step up," Jefferson said. "I wanted to be a leader. Football helped me physically and mentally, especially playing quarterback and having to read defense."
Jefferson, who signed a football scholarship with Copiah-Lincoln Community College, averaged 10 points, three rebounds and five assists, averaging more than 14 points a game in district.
"I came on late," Jefferson said. "I just knew I had to step up for us to get into the playoffs."
Ferriday finished 10-13, 2-8 in district after losing two district games by four points. The Trojans fell to a Riverside team which lost to John Curtis in the Class 2A state championship game.
"We got off to a fairly decent start, then dropped two games at the Newellton Tournament and just wasn't shooting well," said Ferriday boys coach James Davis, the All-Parish Coach of the Year. "But one thing I can say about these kids, they continued working hard in practice trying to improve on what we were trying to do. I saw a big difference down the stretch. We had some opportunities to win some games in district, but we were not able to get the tough rebound or make free throws."
Davis is optimistic about next season.
"We have to get stronger and spend more time in the weight room," he said. "We saw that against Riverside. We need to find a way to spend more time in the gym this spring and summer to get us back to the old days and the way we used to do things."
Joining Jefferson on the all-Parish boys team are Vidalia sophomore Michael Whitley and Viking Isiah Thompson, senior Charles Chandler of Ferriday and Trojan junior Brandon Scott, Monterey junior Cole Fancher and Monterey sophomores Dillon Smith and Hayden Cassels.
Whitley averaged 12 points a game from his point guard position, five assists and three steals.
Thompson averaged 9.5 points and 1.5 assists per game.
Smith averaged 14.7 points and 2.6 assists per game.
Cassels averaged 10.5 points a game, 2.1 assists and 7.0 rebounds.
Fancher averaged 12.7 points a game, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 steals.
Scott averaged 10 points and six rebounds a game for the Trojans.
Chandler averaged 10 points and eight rebounds a contest.
It may not have been a year to remember in Concordia Parish as far as basketball goes, but there were still a lot of highlights.
Even with the challenge of surpassing last season's milestone year, expectations were still high for Monterey's girls basketball team this past season.
After winning the first home playoff game ever at Monterey, the Lady Wolves had to hit the road for a first-round contest this season, falling to Negreet 45-35.
Monterey finished 21-9, posting a 6-2 record in District 4B, good enough for second place in the district.
"We had a good year," Shively said. "I think we were just as good as Negreet, but we just couldn't get the ball to go in the hole. But our kids worked extremely hard. They never missed a practice and came ready to work. They gave us a chance to win each time out. They really stepped up in district. There may have been nights we didn't shoot the ball well, but they always hustled and always played hard on defense."
For his team's accomplishments, Shively is the 2012 Parish Girls Coach of the Year.
At Ferriday, there was a new lady sheriff in town running the offense after three-time All-Parish player Chante Poole graduated and moved on to Copiah-Lincoln.
After starting three years at point guard, Poole turned the team over to ShaKeria Kelly, a sophomore.
And Kelly delivered, averaging 18 points, 3.1 assists and 6.8 rebounds a game.
"I felt a lot of pressure at first," Kelly said. "I was the only point guard on the team. I knew I would be counted on to dribble more and would be facing a lot more pressure. It was tough because I had never seen that much pressure before."
Kelly said she learned a lot from Poole, who averaged 18.2 points a game, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists.
"I learned a lot from Chante," Kelly said. "I have always been impressed how she wants the ball for the last shot and takes charge when it counts. Making that last-second shot is something I dream about."
Joining Kelly on the girls team are Ferriday senior MeElle Reed, Monterey senior Ellen Bairnsfather and Lady Wolf juniors Kaley Baker and Reagan Tifee, Vidalia High junior Fran Duson and Lady Viking Kisha Swanson.
Bairnsfather averaged 12.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3-3 assists a game, which also averaging 6.2 steals a contest.
Baker averaged 7.0 points a game, 3.2 assists and 3.2 steals.
Tiffee averaged eight points a game, four rebounds and two steals a game.
Reed averaged 8.8 points a game and 9.1 rebounds.
Duson averaged 6.0 points and 8.0 rebounds a game for the Lady Vikings.
Swanson averaged five points a game and four steals a contest. |
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