Even though the The Ferriday Lady Trojans loss to Bolton 68-59, they found victory in the hands of defeat Tuesday.

&uot;I’m very proud of my girls,&uot; Ferriday coach Lisa Abron said. &uot;They really can’t play much better than that.&uot;

Abron’s pride reflects how the Lady Trojans played against the undefeated Bolton Lady Bruins.

&uot;They are a 5-A team and we are 2-A so they are a team that has plenty of talent,&uot; Abron said. &uot;We played them last year and they whipped up on us pretty good. I think we gave them a tougher game tonight. That is a good showing for us since we are such a young team. This is virtually an all freshman team.&uot;

Ferriday opened the game with a half court press. The press worked but also hindered the Lady Trojans.

Foul trouble forced Abron to switch defensive schemes. &uot;I had to switch to a 2-3 zone to protect my players from fouls,&uot; Abron said.

One of the players Abron was trying to protect was Monique Jones.

&uot;I picked up two quick fouls in the first half,&uot; Jones said. &uot;That slowed me down some.&uot;

Even though Ferriday had foul trouble and Bolton was making it to to the charity stripe, the Lady Bruins couldn’t convert on the free attempts. By halftime, the Lady Bruins had a tenuous 33-30 lead over Ferriday.

The Lady Trojans welcomed Bolton back to the hardwood by employing a full-court press.

The press led to three quick baskets for Ferriday but Bolton did not falter.

In the second half, the Pantallion sisters began to flex their muscles. Cryisty and Lakesha Pantallion made a living getting offensive rebounds and second chance hoops to built the Lady Bruins lead.

With only four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Bolton had a seemingly comfortable 11-point lead. Ferriday would not quit and the one two combination of Monique Jones and Lashawnda Pryor brought the Lady Trojans within five points.

&uot;Most of our offense runs through Monique and Lashawnda. They have to be on for us to win,&uot; Abron said.

Time ran out and the Lady Trojans a little short as Bolton was able to withstand the Ferriday charge and pad to lead to a 68-59 win.

Cryisty Patallion lead Bolton with 22 points and Lakesha Pantallion with 17 points.

Monique Jones paced Ferriday with 22 points and Lashawnda Pryor had 19.

After the game a tired Jones could see the silver lining in their defeat. &uot;I think we earned some respect tonight,&uot; Jones said. &uot;We had them scared a couple of times. We played them tough and never quit.&uot;

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