Zebra, Filly cagers making up for lost time on court
When Pine Bluff High School resumes its boys and girls basketball seasons, the Zebras and Fillies will have to hit the ground — or the court — running, so to speak.
Pine Bluff has not played games since Dec. 18 for reasons related to covid-19, although those reasons remain unclear.
At least five 5A-South Conference dates on Pine Bluff’s are being rescheduled, including Jan. 8 at Hot Springs, Jan. 12 at home vs. El Dorado, tonight at Lake Hamilton, Jan. 19 at home against White Hall and Jan. 22 at Sheridan.
Pine Bluff athletic director Cheryl Hatley and head coaches deferred questions specific to covid-19 to school district Superintendent Barbara Warren, who could not immediately be reached Thursday evening.
Fifth-year Zebras head coach Billy Dixon did say Pine Bluff is still set to host Hot Springs Lakeside on Jan. 26, although he is hopeful a game can be made up Jan. 23.
That would give Pine Bluff a month to fit rescheduled games into their schedule. The regular season finale is set for Feb. 23 at home against Texarkana.
“We’ll play three or four games a week and try to finish this thing out,” Dixon said. “We’ll see where we are. Not having enough games scheduled has not been in our favor.”
Pine Bluff’s boys team is 2-3 after beating Little Rock Christian Academy 74-60 in its most recent outing. The Zebras beat Maumelle in their Nov. 17 season opener, then lost to West Memphis, Bryant and Sylvan Hills.
“We got a good ballclub,” Dixon said. “We have not played enough games, and everybody else is on Game 12, Game 15-plus. We have a young team and we have not had enough court time.”
The Zebras have gotten help from senior guard-forward Ahmad Buckhanan Jr., senior five-position standout Jalen Tatum, junior point guard and returning starter Troyreon Ramos and sophomore and 6-foot-6 sophomore and second-year starter Jordan Harris.
“The good thing is the kids are working hard, focused, and we think we have a good chance,” Dixon said. “We have two ninth-graders who have been in and out of the lineup. They get to play as much as the starters do.”
Pine Bluff’s girls team is 0-3 following losses to Maumelle, Bryant and LRCA, but first-year head coach Fess Thompson said those teams are also juggernauts.
Thompson won’t mind the grind that’s ahead when the Fillies’ season resumes.
“We’ve been grinding since the summer,” Thompson said. “Whenever they tell us we can play, we’ll be ready, whenever the time comes.”
The Fillies boast a mix of experience and youth with senior guard-forward Charlese Colen and junior point guard T’ceana Jeffery, whom Thompson calls “the heart of the team.” The coach is also big on his standout underclassmen including sophomore guards Caitlyn Darrough and Kaylan Lockett and freshman Sa’vhanna Obasade.
“The future looks bright for the program, but for the most part it’s a nice supporting cast,” Thompson said. “Everything that happened in 2020, we’re leaving in 2020. In 2021, when we return to the floor, they’re going to see a new us. That’s our motto when we break the huddle — us.”