Saint Jo
Both Saint Jo basketball teams picked up wins at home against Midway on Tuesday night.
The Lady Panthers won pretty easily 65-27 against the Lady Falcons while the boys team won a close game 36-34.
The Saint Jo girls were coming off its first district loss against Slidell and needed a bounce-back game against a Midway team that was struggling.
Despite that, the Lady Panthers started slow up only 12-8 after the first quarter. Things started to click better in the second quarter as Saint Jo scored 21 points and led 33-18 at halftime.
From there, the Lady Panthers controlled the way things went all of the second half, allowing only nine more points from the Lady Falcons all game. While Saint Jo’s 3-point shooting never really did get going, the Lady Panthers offense kept up the same pace for all of the second half to win comfortably, 65-27.
No individual statistics were given. Coach Daniel Lindenborn liked how his team implemented what they worked on defensively in practice to the game and hopes they can continue to get better.
The Saint Jo Panthers were coming off a tough loss against undefeated Slidell. Midway was just one game outside of the playoff race while the Panthers were tied with two other teams for the second spot.
Saint Jo started the game well, up 13-4 after the first quarter. Even with the Falcons offense getting going in the second quarter, the Panthers offense kept on pace and upped their lead to 27-14 at halftime.
Saint Jo has struggled with consistency this season and that crept up in the third quarter. The Panthers scored only three points, leaving the door open for Midway to come back. The Falcons nearly equaled their first half total, scoring 12 points and cutting Saint Jo’s lead down to 30-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Panthers’ offense only did a little better, making two field goals and scoring six points. They had plenty of chances to pull comfortably ahead thanks to many trips to the free throw line in the final period, but the team only went 1-11.
Thankfully, Saint Jo’s defense held off Midway just enough to hold on for the win 36-34.

Bellevue vs Prairie Valley
Both Bellevue basketball teams won at Prairie Valley on Tuesday night.
The Lady Eagles won 79-31 while the Eagles won 67-56.
The Bellevue girls were coming into the game following several tough losses against the top teams in the district despite competing well. Prairie Valley was still looking for its first district win as its low team depth held the team back.
The Lady Eagles came out aggressive with their press and jumped on the Lady Bulldogs to a 21-5 lead in the first quarter. Prairie Valley came back to and played more even with Bellevue in the second quarter thanks to earning a lot of free throw trips.
It didn’t help the Lady Bulldogs catch up much as the Lady Eagles led 36-21 at halftime.
Prairie Valley got some bad setbacks when its leading ball handler fouled out early in the third quarter. The team only scored eight points while Bellevue’s lead continued to grow.
When the Lady Bulldogs had another player foul out in the fourth quarter, they had no other players to replace her with and would have to finish the game with only four players.
With Bellevue up by so many points already, and with Coach John McGee being in a similar situation two seasons ago with a team that had little to no bench players, the Lady Eagles agreed to play with only four players for the rest of the game as well.
Bellevue won 79-31.
The Bellevue boy’s team was one game outside of the playoff hunt while the Bulldogs were hoping to join in after showing flashes of competing in several of their losses.
It was a tight first half as the Eagles got off to a good start up 18-12, before Prairie Valley came back and took the lead at halftime by one point 29-28.
It was a high-scoring third quarter as the Bulldogs scored 20 points, but Bellevue closed the quarter out well and trailed only 49-45.
The ending of the third quarter led into the fourth quarter. The Eagles press picked up in intensity and really turned the game around.
Bellevue ended the game on a 22-9 run to win the game 67-58.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Lady Horns won their second matchup at home against Slidell to stay in first place while the boys team lost to the undefeated Greyhounds.
The Lady Horns won 49-38 while the Longhorns lost 101-43.
Forestburg came into the game hoping it could beat the Lady Greyhounds team that had just beaten the only other team the Lady Horns had lost to in district play, Saint Jo.
Forestburg was able to get a decent lead in the first quarter 12-8 and held steady while holding a halftime lead at 25-22.
The Lady Horns had a big third quarter, outscoring Slidell 15-7 to go up 40-29.
Forestburg was able to play the Lady Greyhounds even in the low-scoring fourth quarter to win 49-38.
The Longhorns came into the game in bad shape with a starter out due to injury. The team had another player get injured during the game and Forestburg finished the game with five players.
Even at full strength it would have been a challenge to compete against a Slidell team that had blown out everyone in the district so far, including the Longhorns back in December.

Missing scores
The Gold-Burg boy’s team had a bye-game on Tuesday night. The Lady Bears team have canceled their season due to having too few players.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.