By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
HAMMOND — It is 15 miles from Parkway High to Haughton High – basically a left turn and a right turn – but both teams will have travelled more than 20 times that far to play a basketball game against each other for the second time this season.
You’d think they could find a gym along the way in South Bossier and save everyone the trouble of driving across the state to Hammond.
Actually, the travel has indeed turned out to be a bit of a problem for Parkway. The Panthers’ bus had a breakdown Wednesday along the way, throwing the best-laid plans out the window.
Meanwhile, Haughton coach Jenna Bolin said her team is fine with the five-hour bus ride. “They are so excited to get to leave town and go stay in a hotel,” she said. “Everybody is excited to get out of town.”
But as much as Bolin would like to make it out to be, this is far from just another game for either team. Haughton and Parkway, both members of District 1-5A, will face off in the Division I (non-select) semifinals at 6:15 tonight at the University Center on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana.
For No. 1 seed Parkway (24-2), this is nothing new. The Panthers are the two-time defending state champions.
For fourth-seeded Haughton (26-4), it is new. This is the deepest its girls basketball program has ever gone in the playoffs.
The previous meeting between the two schools was on Jan. 31 in a District 1-5A game played at Haughton. The Panthers won that matchup 69-42.
Playing a familiar opponent in an unfamiliar environment can be a challenge.
“It always matters,” said Parkway coach Gloria Williams. “We have one of the toughest districts in the state. Familiarity can be a dangerous thing this late in the season.”
“I think the biggest challenge is because you know them already,” Bolin said. “Especially with the way things went for us the first time we played. Even though we know them, to me it’s always fun to play somebody new. Not only is it not somebody new, it’s somebody who gave us one of our few losses.
She knows her team is well aware of who they are playing, which makes it difficult to use the just-another-team line on her players.
“That’s what you want them to think,” Bolin said. “You want them to treat it like any other opponent over there and go into to it the same way we went into it the last two rounds.”
Bolin said one of the biggest challenges will be going into a new arena. Her team hasn’t played in any building this season that is anywhere near comparable in size. The old movie line from Hoosiers about the goal still being 10 feet high might have to come into play.
“I know that’s going to be more difficult than me just saying in it,” she said. “They haven’t been in that coliseum yet. It’s going to be a little new to them.”
Bolin had high hopes for her team this season and earning a top 4 seed gave the Bucs an opportunity to play their previous playoff games at home.
But now the scene has shifted. The opponent is familiar, but the surrounding won’t be. That won’t stop Bolin from trying to keep it the same as if it were another game in the Haughton gym.
“We are pretty no-nonsense all the time,” Bolin said. “We keep it to just basketball, no matter what. We don’t announce starters; we don’t do anything extra. I reminded them already that this is going to be fun, but we are going down there to win. You don’t get chances like this every day.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com