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By Keagan Smith

Orange Leader

KOUNTZE – Turning up the defensive pressure, the Orangefield Lady Bobcats overpowered the Liberty Lady Panthers 52-29 in the Class 4A Region III bidistrict playoffs at Kountze High School Thursday night.

The Lady Bobcats (16-8), the third-place team out of District 22-4A, limited the Lady Panthers (8-10), the second-place team out of 21-4A, to just four field goals through the first three quarters as the Lady Bobcats easily cruised to the victory.

Standout junior guard Joli Ponfick led the Lady Bobcat arsenal with 19 points, 16 of them coming in the second half, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

Freshman post Greenlea Oldham picked up 16 points and played stout defense with Madison Greenway and Harleigh Rawls inside as the trio blocked a slew of Liberty shots and they piled up a bunch of rebounds.

The Lady Bobcats will now move on to face either Brookshire Royal or Houston Worthing in the area round next week.

The Lady Bobcats went out to a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter as Oldham bruised her way inside for eight points while Harleigh Rawls had four of her six points in the period. Madison Godeaux and Dralyn Willis had three points apiece for the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Bobcats turned up the defense even more in the second quarter, holding Liberty to no field goals. The Lady Panthers made three free-throws in the quarter and Orangefield went on to score eight points in the quarter, including a big three-point bomb by Joli Ponfick as the Lady Bobcats led 20-9 at intermission.

The Lady Bobcats forced Liberty into 11 first half turnovers while they only had four.

Orangefield outscored the Lady Panthers 14-6 in the third to go up 34-15 entering the fourth as Ponfick and Oldham had five points apiece in the quarter.

The Lady Bobcats finished it off by outpointing Liberty 18-14 in the fourth.

Liberty received seven points from Madison Godeaux in the quarter. Godeaux led the Lady Panthers with 12 points and had three three-pointers for the night. Drayln Willis added seven points for Liberty.