WCCA at Oak Forest Recap

Jackets sting Rams

By Darron Thomas

Oak Forest played host to the WCCA Rams on Thursday night in Amite as both squads looked to get in extra work in a non-district match up. Wilkinson Christian’s boy’s team came into the contest with high expectations and were looking to beat the Jackets on their home court. The Rams have had decent success this year but ran into a brick wall Thursday night. WCCA was able to keep the game close in the first quarter and were only down 6 points as the first quarter came to a close. But that 17-11 deficit soon grew as the Jacket’s Brock Banos hit a two point basket at the 5:50 mark in the quarter and then Banos connected on a 3 pointer to extend the lead to 26-13 at 4:20 in the second quarter. Oak Forest took a 34-17 lead into halftime. The Jackets came out in the third quarter and pushed the lead to 45-22 and ultimately closed out the game with a 53-33 final as all 17 Jacket players saw playing time.
Brock Banos had game high honors as the senior pumped in 19 points on the night, followed by sophomore Drew Misita’s 12 and senior Travis Thornton added 10.

In the girls match up the #3 ranked Oak Forest Lady Yellow Jackets had little resisitance from the overmatched Lady Rams as they took an easy win by a 61-25 margin. Oak Forest hit eight 3-pointers on the night and had four players score in double digits. WCCA scored the first basket of the game before OFA put together a 15-0 run and pushed to a 20-7 lead after the first quarter. Both Lindsey Oliver and Ashlyn Neal had 6 points in the opening period. The Lady Jackets controlled the second quarter in the same fashion as the first with solid man defense which smothered WCCA ballhandlers. OFA took a commanding 41-14 lead into the half. The second half was totally dominated by OFA with the Lady Jackets building a 57-18 lead after three periods of play as most everyone saw playing time the rest of the ay. The final score was 61-25 as the Oak Forest girls upped their record to 19-3 on the year.
Senior Brittani Roy led Oak Forest with 14 points, senior Lindsey Oliver added 12, senior Cassie Bennett 10, sophomore Ashlyn Neal 10, and senior Lauren Brumfield 6 points.

(Above) Lady Jacket Cassie Bennett (#25) defends the post

Oak Forest has a lot to be proud of…..the boys team is the most improved group I’ve seen this season. Solid defense and lots of movement on the offensive end. The addition of sophomore Drew Misita has helped tremendously. Tonight was my first look at Misita and he has all the tools and potential to be special. Very good passer, has a knack at getting to the basket, and had two blocked shots in the first quarter. But I was most impressed by the play of senior Brock Banos who is a very versital player. Banos showed a good post game but also a smooth shot from beyond the three point line and good ball handling ability. New head coach Bo Coxen deserves lots of credit and I think the Jackets will be heard from come district tournament time.

(Above) Ashlyn Neal (#11) works around a WCCA screen

The girls squad can just flat out play….very fun to watch. The team I saw on Thursday night is the best girl’s team I’ve seen this season. Great outside shooting and defense has this team in the driver’s seat in AA south. Senior guard Lindsey Oliver hit four 3-pointers and Brittani Roy had three 3-pointers on the night and Ashlyn Neal had a great game in the post. This squad can be very hard to defend and with the senior leadership on the court it will take a huge effort to topple the Lady Jackets. Big “Shout Out” to girls head coach Jody Fekete!

Concession favorite at Oak Forest….chicken strips...the best!

Oak Forest hosts ASC on Friday.

(Above) Coach Fekete goes over the assignments