Abbeville travels to take on Avoyelles

The Abbeville Lady Wildcats season has been a roller coaster affair all season long.

The Lady Wildcats season from the very beginning was designed for the playoffs.

Head coach Dean Dronet set up his schedule to face off against some of the best girls basketball teams the state has to offer.

Before the Lady Wildcats got to district play they had a 9-11 record, and despite a few number of wins everything was going according to plan.

Then the district schedule got here for the Lady Wildcats and they finished the district season with a 8-2 record, which made their overall record 17-13.

Their record was good enough to land them in the 18th seed of the 3A playoff bracket.

“We are excited to be here,” Head Coach Dean Dronet said. “We have had a tough schedule all season long and hopefully it will pay off now that the playoffs are here.”

Coach Dronet knows that, despite how the regular season went, all that matters now is the playoffs.

“The season is over now, and the only thing that matters is the playoffs,” Dronet said. “All the records sit at 0-0 and if you want to win the championship you have to win five straight games.

“I don’t know that much about Avoyelles, but I do know that we have practiced all week and are going to travel down there (Avoyelles) and hopefully come away with a victory.”

Along with the tough regular season schedule the Lady Wildcats have had to deal with the injury bug that has plagued the team.

Over the course of the season the Lady Wildcats have lost a couple of key players to injury.

Through all of this coach Dronet has faith in his team that they are prepared and experience enough to make a run.

“They are excited about the playoffs,” Dronet said. “Most of them have been to the playoffs and are use to the pressure of the playoffs. We are going to use that experience to out advantage. They know we just have to focus one game at a time,
and right now that’s Avoyelles.”

Avoyelles enters this game as the 15th seed. It finished the season with a 17-12 record.

Avoyelles is currently riding a five game winning streak, and it has also won nine of its last 10 basketball games.

For the Lady Wildcats to get a victory against Avoyelles they are going to have to rely on their starting five of Barbara Bryant, Bianca Levy, Arrayia Starlard, Jacqueline Braxton and Christina Hackshaw.

Those five girls are the ones that have driven the Lady Wildcats all season long, and if they wish to make it out of the first round they are going to need to see all five of them play a good solid team game.

The game itself is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at Avoyelles.

Andy Bullard
Sports Editor