The Lady Panthers were undefeated in District 17-3A competition and expected to remain so after their visit to Chapel Hill Friday, Feb. 5.

In an effort to make the perfect loop record a reality, nine Bullard girls shared the scoring duties to help Bullard run away with a 70- 28 win over the Lady Bulldogs.

“We came out and played extremely hard,” said Bullard Head Coach Greg Gay.

That was evident from the opening tip-off. The Lady Panthers stormed to an overwhelming 16-4 lead in the first stanza. Any hopes for a comeback by the Lady Bulldogs were dispelled after Bullard outscored Chapel Hill by a 24-8 margin in the second period.

“The girls were very aggressive and played with a lot of energy,” Gay said.

Bullard took a 40-12 advantage into the break. It didn’t get any easier for the Chapel Hill squad in the third frame.

Led by the team’s leading scorers, Christina Hatten and Minta Spears, the Lady Panthers pumped in 13 points in the quarter to take a 53-19 edge into the final stanza. Bullard coasted to the victory with a 17-9 advantage in the fourth quarter. The defense did not allow Chapel Hill to score in double figures in any single quarter.

Hatten led all scorers with 22 points, and Minta pumped in 16 for the Lady Panthers. Also for Bullard, Ashley Ricci scored nine, Samantha Phillips recorded six, Ally Covalt garnered five points, Kayla Welling scored four, Heather Camp and Ashlee Shidler each contributed three and Emmy Long scored two points.

For Chapel Hill, Whitney Justice recorded 13 points, Amber Hicks added six, Jasmine Timms contributed four, Bre Mills and Katie Hintz each scored two and Jaymi Adams recorded one point.

At the charity stripe, the Lady Panthers connected on 10 of 19 for 53 percent. The Lady Bulldogs scored on seven of 12 for 58 percent.

The Lady Panthers moved to 9-0 in district play after the win over the Lady Bulldogs. They also improved to 25-8 for the season.

Bullard was slated to host Spring Hill Tuesday, Feb. 9, for their final game of the regular season. Gay said if the Lady Panthers defeated Sping Hill, they will host Neches in a warm-up game at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Bullard gymnasium.

Playoff action for the Lady Panthers is slated to start Friday, Feb. 19. Teams in the playoff mix include Brownsboro, Fairfield and Lorena.

The Lady Panthers started the second round of District 17-3A competition Tuesday, Feb. 2.

After going undefeated in first-round action, Bullard continued the march for a district title with a 53-34 victory at Gladewater.

Kayla Welling paced Bullard early with six points in the opening stanza. Seven other Lady Panthers shared scoring duties to help Bullard jump out to a 22-12 lead.

Ashlee Shidler and Christina Hatton combined for 10 points in the second period, leading the Lady Panthers to an overwhelming 35-17 halftime lead over the Lady Bears.

Following the halftime break, Gladewater cut into the Bullard lead with an 11- 7 scoring advantage in the third quarter. The Lady Panthers still owned a 42-28 lead going into the final stanza.

Heather Camp and Samantha Phillips made sure the Bullard lead held firm, as they combined for all 11 points for the Lady Panthers in the final period.

Camp led the Bullard scorers with 10 points, while Rikki Parker and Shakaree Duncan paced the Lady Bears with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Minta Spears led the Bullard squad with seven assists and seven steals, while Shidler’s six rebounds paced the team on the boards.

Shidler also recorded one block and three steals; Camp added four steals to her team stats; Phillips finished with seven points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist; Hatton contributed seven points, two rebounds, a steal and an assist; Welling recorded eight points, two steals and two rebounds; Ashley Ricci added five points, five boards and a steal; and Ally Covalt scored five points and grabbed two rebounds.

Spears also scored three points and recorded two rebounds to go along with her team-leading assists and steals.

For Gladewater, Parker also recorded two rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals; Duncan added 10 rebounds and a team-leading six steals to her point production; Kayla Turner scored seven points, grabbed five boards and recorded an assist; and Kyuntae McCauley scored four points, grabbed one steal and led the squad with 17 rebounds.