The Paris basketball program traveled to Hackett on Tuesday night for important conference match-ups with the Hornets. When the night came to an end, the Eagles and Lady Eagles boarded buses to return home with each having won lopsided victories over the Hackett Hornets and Lady Hornets.
For the Lady Eagles, the win was Paris’s second straight that improved their record to 2-0 in the conference. And for the Eagles, the win was Paris’s first conference win and improved their record to 1-1 in the conference. Most importantly for both, the Paris boys and girls teams were able to go on the road and secure victories at what normally is a very tough environment for visiting teams.
In the girls’ game, the first quarter ended with Paris holding a slim one-point lead. But then, the dam broke and Paris went on a run that proved to be too much for the Lady Hornets. Sophomore Jadyn Wells had one of her best games, both defensively and offensively. Akira Robinson showed good movement under the basket and became an offensive force down low in the manner that many have been waiting to see from the talented junior. All in all, it was a great team victory with many of the Lady Eagles having great performances in the road match-up at Hackett. The Lady Eagles are now 7-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
For the game, the Lady Eagles were led in scoring by Jadyn Hart with 20 points, Jadyn Wells with 19 points and 5 steals on defense, Akira Robinson, who was the most active she has been under the basket, 8 points and 11 rebounds. Brailey Forst had 7 rebounds and 9 assists, making good passes to open teammates for shots. Overall, this may have been the most complete team victory the Lady Eagles have had this season. Paris demonstrated that several of its players are threats to score and that is a good thing for the Lady Eagles as they move into the rest of the conference season.
After the game, Lady Eagles coach Donald Hart commented, “Great team effort offensively; we hit the boards which allowed Wells and Hart to get out in transition. I thought we played hard from buzzer to buzzer and never let Hackett back in the game after the first quarter.”
Much like the girls game, the Paris boys dominated Hackett in their game with it never being in doubt for the entire night. Junior Mequiel Elingburg had a monster night under the basket and has been a big addition to the Eagles since having joined a little more than a week ago from the Eagles state quarterfinals football team. He and junior Duke Walker, along with Mason Bradley and Jude Simmons have all been big additions after coming over from the football program. In fact, it has now been approximately nine days since the players joined the team, and it is apparent that they are now making the transition to basketball and should be getting better and better as the season moves along. The holiday break should give the players some additional practice time that they have not had that should also help the team improve as they move into the resumption of the conference season on January 5.
Both teams will play their final conference games before the holidays break on Friday, December 18, when Paris welcomes conference newcomer Danville to Paris Gymnasium. Junior boys, senior girls, and senior boys games will be played starting at 5 p.m. The first games after the break will be on December 28 when Paris hosts Johnson County Westside.
Resident Press will have a recap of Friday’s games with Danville on Monday, December 21. Also, look for full coverage of the Class 3A state football championship game between Harding Academy and McGehee in Sunday afternoon’s online edition of Resident Press.
It is the most wonderful time of the year! Stay safe, enjoy the great basketball action, and have a happy holiday season!
