Bogalusa scored the game’s first eight points and defeated Varnado, 54-23, in a home game Tuesday.
The Lady Jacks scored the contest’s opening eight points over the first 4:37.
Deranique Lee gave the Lady Jacks a 2-0 lead after hitting a follow-up shot after pulling down an offensive rebound with 5:58 left in the first quarter. Ta’niya Brown banked in a shot for a 4-0 lead at the 5:33 mark. Dinasia Harris passed to Jaikayla Henry for two more. Lee made a field goal for two more and an 8-0 lead with 3:23 left in the first quarter.
Varnado countered the early run with five straight points.
JaKyra Daggs made a pair of free throws. Tanisha Brister split from the free-throw line and Destiny Keys made a shot and got fouled. She missed the free throw, but the had the lead down to 8-5 with 33.1 seconds left.
After the 5-0 run, Bogalusa scored 12 straight.
The spurt began when Harris made a fastbreak layup with eight seconds to go. Harris was good on another fastbreak layup to open the scoring in the second period. Harris then hit a pair of free throws to make it 14-5 with 5:06 on the clock. Brown made a fastbreak layup and Harris was good on a pair of free throws to make it 18-5 at the 3:43 mark. Shatiana Gamble capped the run with a field goal and it was 20-5 with 2:22 left in the first half.
Bogalusa led 23-9 at the break.
“They were really locked in tonight. It’s a big rival for us. We felt really good about our opportunity to play against these guys tonight. The girls were super-excited. We had a good practice (Monday). Unfortunately, we lost one of our starters to a little freak injury, but I believe she’s going to bounce back. I was really proud of our bench. Coming off of the bench, we did really really well,” Bogalusa coach Frank Gambino said. “(Deranique) Lee did excellent on the boards. (Ta’niya) Brown penetrated real well, Chloe (Foster) finished up with penetrating. It was a well-rounded effort between all of them. I’m really, really impressed with the girls’ play tonight.”
It was 36-19 after three quarters and Bogalusa went on for the 54-23 win.
“Four games, four losses, but I see improvement every game,” Varnado coach Aaron Luper said. “We’re a very, very young team. At any point in the game, I may have an eighth grader, three ninth graders and a 10th grader out there. We’ve got two seniors, two juniors and the rest are all in eighth, ninth and 10th grade, so to be able to compete with these teams that have a lot of juniors and seniors on the team says a lot. We’ve just got to stop turning the ball over, run the offense and defense like it’s supposed to be and keep improving every week and that’s what we’re doing.
“I’m proud to see my young girls out there competing and never quitting. It just shows you what we’re going to have in the future.”
Harris scored a game-high 15 points for Bogalusa.
Foster posted 14 points.
Brown recorded eight points while Gamble posted seven, Lee had five, Jaikayla Harry totaled four and Mary Ladner added one in the victory.
Javonnie Bickham topped Varnado with eight points. She was good on a pair of 3-pointers.
Daggs recorded six points while Brister posted four, Jalisa Jackson had three and Keys added two. Jackson made a 3-pointer.