Parkway basketball’s Makenna Miles vaults Lady Panthers into LHSAA girls semifinals
Although Makenna Miles isn’t the first person most folks think of when talking about Parkway basketball, she certainly made a case for herself Thursday in her team’s LHSAA Non-Select Division I battle with Natchitoches Central.
The Panthers — the best girls basketball team in Louisiana with the best player in the country — were struggling a bit offensively early in their effort to defeat NCHS for the third time this season. Coach Gloria Williams dialed up Miles number and the senior started dropping in bombs from her own zip code. Miles hit three first-quarter 3-pointers on her way to a 17-point night for a player who is normally the Lady Panthers’ fourth leading scorer.
That effort vaulted Parkway to a 58-24 victory in front of a packed gym and set up a net-cutting ceremony after the final buzzer. Parkway (23-1) is headed to the semifinals next week in Hammond’s University Center on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana. They’ll face No. 3 Barbe, which defeated East St. John 73-59.
“We came out super slow, that’s for sure, but we got our leading scorers, Mikaylah (Williams) and Chloe (Larry), going and that got me going,” Miles said. “It’s always a great feeling to advance. This year it just means that much more.”
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Mikayla, an LSU signee and the country’s top rated women’s basketball recruit for the Class of 2023, led the way with 19 points, while Larry, the 2022 Times Female Athlete of the Year, chipped in with 13.
“Until the final buzzer blows and we’re on top in the state championship game, we’re still locked in and ready to play,” Mikayla said.
The Lady Panthers are seeking a trip back to the championship game where they lost 80-79 in double overtime last year to Ponchatoula. If they advance to the title game, it will be the sixth consecutive season that a team from District 1-5A has played for a crown in the state’s highest class.
The game was halted briefly with just under four minutes remaining when a fight broke out between some teenage fans on the far side of the court, but officials quickly brought it under control. No players were involved in the short melee.
Jimmy Watson covers Shreveport-Bossier area sports. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: LSHAA basketball: Parkway heads to state semifinals behind LSU signee
