Lady Aggies take down Simsboro

The Choudrant Lady Aggies (12-18, 4-0) remain in the driver's set of the District 2-B title race after defeating rival Simsboro ( 17-9, 2-2) 42-29 in front of a packed home crowd on Friday.

Simsboro came out with stronger intensity and turned Choudrant over early on, giving the Lady Tigers a 6-2 lead with under two minutes left in the first quarter. But Choudrant fought back and led 8-7 after the first with a three-pointer from Sadie Jones starting the late run. The second quarter worked out much better for Choudrant after Reese Brown’s layup gave the Lady Aggies a 12-11 lead with 5:12 left in the first half. After the make, Choudrant went on a 10-2 run over the final five minutes to lead 22-13 at the break.

Simsboro had trouble with turnovers throughout the night, including 10 across the second and third quarter that kept the team from clawing back in the contest sooner. The Lady Tigers had one last push in the the fourth, cutting the deficit to six with just under two minutes left. Late misses at the free-throw line cost Simsboro, while Brown connected on all five of her free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

It's the first time since the 2021-22 season Choudrant has swept Simsboro in the regular season.

“I actually asked them, ‘how many of you have competed for a district title?’ And none of them had. That’s huge," Choudrant head coach Brandy Roberson said. "My seniors played in a playoff game as freshmen but they never won district. That’s really huge. This is what we work for. This is the finish line and we just have to finish. And tonight was tough. They knew what was on the line and there were a lot of nerves and we came out nervous and didn’t play our game at first.”

Brown finished with a game-high 16 points, including 7 in the fourth alone with her clutch free throws in the closing minutes, while Sadie Jones put up 8 points in the win. Piper Jackson and Brelyn Pyle each finished with 6 points as well. Roberson praised her post players for the job they did on both ends of the floor to help secure the win.

“Sadie is able to do so much and Addison gets overlooked so often," Roberson said. "She just plays her butt off on defense. You don’t really notice her half the time because she’s just doing her job and I know she did a really good job tonight.”

Matt Herring, head coach of the Lady Tigers, was disappointed his group couldn't achieve the goal of winning district this year but was pleased with the team's overall effort.

Simsboro missed 34 free throws across its two losses to Choudrant, including 12 Friday.

“I thought our girls played extremely hard tonight," Herring said. "We had a couple lapses where we didn’t slow down and gave up some layups. We missed some easy shot but we had a chance to cut it to six. Give credit to Choudrant. They executed and they made the plays and that’s why they’re going to win the district this year. I’m not mad at the girls. The girls did a great job.”

Jakeria Abney led Simsboro with 8 points, while Brianna Williams had 7 points. 

Choudrant can officially clinch the District 2-B title with a win over Downsville on Tuesday.