Lady Jackets sail by Fillies

Four players scored in double digits as the Sheridan girls’ basketball team bounced back at home Tuesday night.

Sheridan defeated Pine Bluff 67-33 in Yellowjacket Arena to stay unbeaten in conference play.

The Lady Jackets (8-3, 2-0 in 5A-South) were coming off a 55-50 loss at Hamburg but got back on track. They have won four of their past five games.

Sheridan senior Kayden Porter scored a game-high 15 points, followed by Lilly Reid with 14, Emma Goodman with 12 and Addison Hill with 10.

Head coach Jamison Ingram said it is nice to have so many scorers.

“We have multiple players that can put those kinds of numbers up,” Ingram said. “We’re offensively a little bit stronger than we have been. We just gotta fix the defensive parts, and we’ll be excited about where we are.”

Pine Bluff (1-6, 0-2) was led by junior Taniya Jackson and sophomore Mariah Savage with 6 points each.

The teams traded buckets early until Reid gave Sheridan a 6-4 lead. From that shot, the Lady Jackets finished the first quarter on an 18-2 run.

Porter said the Lady Jackets played fast.

“We were getting up and down the court good,” Porter said. “I think our defense has improved a lot since last game. It’s only up from here.”

Pine Bluff sophomore Na’Lija Watts opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, but Porter answered with one of her own. The teams again traded buckets early in the quarter before Sheridan finished the half with a 14-2 run, leading 48-19.

The Fillies made a few shots in the third quarter and outscored Sheridan 11-7. Pine Bluff finished the quarter on a 7-0 run with shots by Skylar Watkins, Madison Coakes and Adrianna McAfee.

The Lady Jackets emptied the bench in the fourth quarter, and a few of the reserve players made the most of their playing time. Dani Johnson made two 3-pointers in the fourth, and Hill made one.

Ingram said even though some of them got to play in a junior varsity game beforehand, she was glad to be able to give them a chance to get some varsity minutes.

“We want to have the younger kids come in and get that experience,” Ingram said. “And when they do come in, you really want to see the momentum of the game not change, and I thought they did a good job of that tonight.”