[1/25/05]LAKE PROVIDENCE Five years ago, with a team full of juniors, the Lake Providence Lady Panthers made it all the way to the Louisiana State 2A Girls Basketball Championship game.

Ruth Jackson was the head coach back then. Now, she has another junior-laden team that has made its presence known throughout the Louisiana Delta region.

The Lake Providence girls currently own a 15-4 record, heading into a pivotal week of the season. They host district rival Vidalia tonight. Then on Friday, they will square off against McCall.

Jackson says this group remains a work in progress, but she likes their potential.

“We have seven juniors on the team and five of them start,” said Jackson who has coached at Lake Providence for the past 24 years. “I’ve had them since the ninth grade. They’ve just stuck together.”

In 2000, when the Lady Panthers made their run to the state finals, they were a quick and athletic team. Two of the stars from that 27-3 team are still playing at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.

This team is different.

“We have a little more height this year,” Jackson said. “We have two big girls, one is 6-foot-1 and the other is 6-foot, but I don’t always play them together. It depends a lot on how a team is playing us.”

Frida Allen, a 6-1 junior, leads the team in scoring with a 14 points-per-game average. Sierra Davis is the other 6-foot post player. Lake Providence rounds out the frontcourt with 5-10 junior Tresha Larry.

The backcourt also features a pair of juniors. Guard Bernedette Davis is the team’s second-leading scorer at 12 points per game. Regenia Crayten averages 11 points at the other guard spot.

A key component for Jackson, however, is reserve Monica Crayten.

“Monica comes up off the bench and is real strong. If I start her, she doesn’t play as well. But if she comes off the bench, she just seems to take control,” Jackson said. “I feel like with her, I have two more shooters than I had with the 2000 team.

“We play good team ball and no one is selfish.”

That is something that Allen says makes the Lady Panthers special.

“Because we’re all in the same class, we get along better,” Allen said. “We’re all friends.

“Playing team ball is what we do best. We need to work hard on our defense, but we’re doing better,” she added.

Lake Providence won a tournament at Oak Grove and finished second in a tournament at Sterlington. Two of the team’s losses were to Class 4A schools in Neville and Bastrop.

Jackson, though, knows the Lady Panthers’ ability to make it to the Class 2A Sweet 16 at Hammond will depend on how they can handle a strong McCall squad.

“McCall is still the team to beat. We beat them at our place (last week) but we still have to go over there. Our goal is to get a home game in the bi-district playoffs,” she said.