Avoyelles Parish basketball players named to All-District, All-Parish teams

Six Avoyelles Parish high school basketball players were named to their 1st Team All-District squads and 10 more received 2nd Team All-District recognition.

In the All-Parish Team selection, Jamerrian Texada of Bunkie Magnet is the MVP for the five boys teams.

Peyton Hines -- the “Fantastic Freshman” of Avoyelles Charter -- is the MVP for the girls cagers for this season.

Avoyelles Public Charter’s Antonio Benjamin is this year’s Coach of the Year for the boys programs, guiding his Vikings to a 26-5 overall record and taking the District 4-AA title with a 5-1 record.

Avoyelles High’s Renee Bell is the girls Coach of the Year. Under her leadership, the Lady Mustangs went 20-9 overall and were 8-2 in District 3-AAA. District champion Caldwell was responsible for both blemishes on the district record.

The other four All-Parish 1st Team members for the boys programs are Aaron McGee (APCS), B.J. Robertson (Avoyelles) Dujon Bradford (Avoyelles) and Ian Lee (Marksville).

The 2nd Team squad includes Jamael Owusu (APCS), Aaron Barker (St. Joseph), Josh Owusu (APCS), Tydrick Harrell (Marksville) and Marquis Alexander (Avoyelles).

For the girls, the other four 1st Teamers are Kenedy Ealey (Avoyelles), Chelsea Green (Marksville), Alexia Thornton (Bunkie) and Larrielle Lewis (Avoyelles).

The five 2nd Team members are Carlesia Fields (Bunkie), Gracey Leonards (St. Joseph), Keira James (Marksville), Makaila Kyle (Avoyelles) and Camille Coco (APCS).

All of the 1st and 2nd All-Parish team members, and most of the honorable mentions, were also recognized in their All-District teams.

A DIFFICULT TASK

Choosing the All-Parish honorees is not a simple task.

With five schools, each with five starters and significant contributors coming off the bench for both the boys and girls teams, narrowing the number to five 1st Team and five 2nd Team players is both a pleasant and difficult responsibility.

There are athletes on the 2nd Teams that would feel at home on the 1st Team. There are Honorable Mentions that would have been on the 2nd Team if there were nine players like baseball or -- even better -- 11 as in football.

In selecting an overall MVP, it is often an “apples” and “oranges” quandary.

Who is more important, the player who lights up the scoreboard or the dominant defensive force that keeps the other team from lighting up the scoreboard?

In a few rare occasions, there are players who do both.

To break the tie between offense and defense, you try to measure traits that don’t show up on the record books -- leadership, motivation and just plain “take charge-ability.”

BOYS TEAMS

For the boys, Texada averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and two steals per game to take the MVP designation.

Not taking anything away from his fellow-Panthers, but Texada drove his team this year. Panther fans can rejoice that he is only a junior and will be back again next year.

McGee averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and three steals per game to pace the Vikings this year while Lee was Marksville’s MVP with 14 points, three rebounds and four steals per game.

The Mustangs double-dipped in the 1st Team with Robertson averaging 12.7 points, 8 rebounds and 6 steals per game and teammate Bradford averaging 12.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5 steals per outing.

On the 2nd Team, St. Joseph’s Aaron Barker was the Eagles top player this year with 9 points per game.

Jamael Owusu was a significant factor in the Vikings’ success, with 10.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2 steals per game.

The other half of the Vikings’ “Terrific Twins,” Josh Owusu, added 7.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals to Charter’s district championship season.

Alexander was the Mustangs’ No. 3 man -- third in scoring with an average of 10.1 points and third in rebounds with 4 per game.

Harrell was a significant contributor for the Tigers, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds per game.

GIRLS TEAM
For the girls teams, Hines combined a sizzling 19.8-point average with 12.5 rebounds and 4 steals per game to lead the Lady Vikings.

Her combination of offense and defense, plus being “Honorable Mention” in the Class AA All-State selections, gave her a slight edge over two other highly qualified, very talented and older athletes.

And she is only a freshman.

Had the 4-AA coaches not voted to name the Rapides Lady Mustangs as the entire All-District 1st Team, Hines would most likely have been a 1st Team All-District as well.

Green averaged 22 points for the Lady Tigers and contributed 6 rebounds and 4 steals per game to aid Marksville’s efforts. She was a catalyst for the team.

Kenedy Ealey was a dominant force all season for the Lady Mustangs. She scored 11.9 points per game, which is a respectable offensive output. However, it was on defense where she excelled, with 13.4 rebounds and 10 blocked shots per game.

Thornton was the Lady Panthers’ leader this year, with 13.5 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals per game.

Lewis was also a key ingredient in Avoyelles’ recipe for success this season. She averaged 9 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals per game.

On the 2nd Team, the Lady Panthers’ Fields -- the youngest member of the All-Parish squads as a 7th grader -- had 12.5 points, 5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.

Leonards, of St. Joseph, averaged 7 points per game for the Lady Eagles. She was also named to the state’s All-Academic Composite Team for this season.

Kyle had 6 points and 16 rebounds per game for the Lady Mustangs.

James added 8 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals per game for Marksville.

The Lady Vikings’ Coco contributed 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game to Avoyelles Charter’s efforts this season.

ALL-ACADEMIC TEAMS

In addition to Leonards on the Composite All-Academic team, several local student athletes were named to their all-state classification academic team.

APCS had two on the Class AA boys team -- Jamael Owusu and Jacob Gauthier.

The Lady Vikings also had Lily McCann on the Class AA girls team.

Leonards was joined by teammate Abbi Gremillion on the Class C girls all-academic team.

THANKS TO ALL PLAYERS

While this and similar “all-star” articles focus on individual athletes, it must be remembered that basketball is a team sport.

If the 2004 Olympics taught America anything, it’s that one team can beat five all-stars.

All members of every team -- those teams winning over 20 games and those winning only two -- should be proud of their efforts and their contributions to their teams.

If they did their best, they admirably represented their schools in the many contests they played during this season.

Those not listed here are all “unmentioned honorable mentions.”