Prairie Valley traveled to Gold-Burg on Friday for a district matchup both teams needed to win.
In the end it was the Bears who squeaked out a 60-59 win at home against the Bulldogs, who lost another close district game despite turning in a good performance.
“We played what I thought was really good basketball for about three and a half quarters,” Prairie Valley Coach Seth Stephens said. “We played well defensively, and shot well, but in the fourth quarter Gold-Burg made a push and we just couldn’t hold them off. We started giving up layups and that’s what cost us the game.”
The Bears were led inside by Tanner Parrish, who finished with a game high 29 points and 13 rebounds.
Coplin Miller chipped in 15 points while leading the team with four assists. As a team, they shot 49 percent from the field.
The Bulldogs were led by William Winkler, who scored 16 points. Nicholas Bell joined him in double figures with 11 points to go along with four steals. The team shot around 40 percent from three-point range and limited their turnovers against zone heavy Gold-Burg.
The 3-1 Bears have a tough week ahead of them as they host district favorite Slidell on Tuesday before traveling to Bellevue on Jan. 18 to play at 7 p.m. Prairie Valley 1-4 will wrap up the first round of district play at Slidell on Jan. 18 with the game scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

Saint Jo
After winning by blowouts in their first three district games, Saint Jo tested itself against district favorite and state ranked Slidell on Friday at home.
Unfortunately, the Panthers will need to study some more as the Greyhounds won 71-46. Despite Preston Lyons 22 points, Saint Jo just could not keep up with Slidell’s hot shooting offense.
“We ran into a very talented team that shot incredibly well from the three-point line, so that combination lends to a tough night,” Coach Michael Wheeler said. “They came in well prepared and neutralized anything we threw at them.”
Despite the disappointing outcome, the Panthers have no downtime to feel sorry for themselves with tough games this week.
“This was one of those games you have to have a short term memory and move on to the next game, and that’s what we will do,” Wheeler said. “Things don’t get any easier for us this week as we close out our first round of district play with Bellevue and Midway.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.