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PINE PRAIRIE – The Iota Lady Bulldogs withstood an early rally and went 11-for-19 from 3-point range Monday to pick up a key 58-42 District 5-2A road victory over Pine Prairie.

“We shot the three very well,” said Iota coach Meghann LeJeune, whose team improved to 12-16 overall and 7-1 in league play. “As soon as we stopped turning the ball over, our offense looked great.”

Iota struggled with turnovers, especially early in the game when they were whistled for traveling on numerous occasions.

Those turnovers enabled the Lady Panthers to erase a 12-point deficit early in the second quarter and get within two (24-22) with just over a minute to play in the half.

“We just didn’t play with intensity early in the game,” said LeJeune, whose squad beat Pine Prairie, 56-18, just over a week ago. “We made a lot of mistakes. I can’t even count the amount of walks that we had off of head fakes.

“But I’m not taking anything from Pine Prairie; they made the adjustments that needed to be made to come back at us and give themselves a chance.”

The Lady Dogs halted the 10-0 run when Brittany Johnson drilled one of her six 3-pointers on the night. She then followed with a layup in transition to give Iota a 29-22 advantage at the break.

Johnson, who went 6-for-9 from 3-point range, scored eight points in the second quarter and finished the night with 21 points.

“What scares me with a game like this is that if Brittany doesn’t hit six threes, it’s a really close game,” said LeJeune. “She was on so we kept giving the ball to her.”

Johnson added six more points in the third quarter, both on 3-point shots, and connected on another long ball in the fourth.

Jillian Boone added a pair of 3-pointers and scored nine points in the victory while Paige Soirez had one three and finished the night with eight points.

Mallory Faul and Madison Smith each scored six points and Taylor DeVille had four. Faul also led the team in rebounding with 13 boards. Alexis St. Andre and Cambri St. Andre rounded out Iota’s scoring with two points each.

Pine Prairie 65

Bulldogs 39

PINE PRAIRIE – The Iota Bulldogs kept it close early, but Pine Prairie went on a tear in the second half to walk away with an easy victory Monday evening at the Panthers’ home gym.

The Panthers went on a 13-0 run to start the game, only to have the Bulldogs battle back to cut the lead to 19-11 behind six points from Zack Hebert.

Garrett Reppond got the Dogs within six (21-15) with a 3-pointer in the second quarter before the Panthers extended the cushion to 30-20 at the half.

Reppond and Hebert each connected on 3-pointers in the third quarter, but the Panthers were still able to add to their cushion thanks in part to a halfcourt bucket from GiJuan Anderson at the buzzer.

The heave put the Panthers up 45-31.

From there, it was all Pine Prairie.

The Panthers went on a 14-2 run in the first six minutes to seal the victory

Hebert paced Iota with 13 points and Tristan Fontenot had nine. Reppond followed with seven points, Kyle Smith added five, Luke Reed scored four and Deandre Curtis had three.

Pine Prairie had three players score in double figures on the night.

Anderson, who scored 12 points in the first quarter, led the charge with a game-high 20 points. He was followed by Byron Jackson with 15 and Douglas Fontenot with 12.

Also contributing in the victory were Lucas Thrasher with nine points and Marcus Chretien with two.

Iota will play host to Ville Platte on Friday in the regular season finale for both teams.