BRENHAM, Texas – With her high school coach in the gym, freshman forward Fatima Adams put on a show.
Adams scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the 10th-ranked Blinn Buccaneers' 91-62 Region XIV Conference victory over the Panola Fillies at the Blinn P.E. Building on Wednesday.
Adams' high school coach at Bryan Rudder High School, John Shelton, surprised Adams with his arrival prior to the game. Shelton is now the head coach at Franklin High School.
"He's a special coach," said Blinn (22-1, 8-1) coach Jeff Jenkins. "He gets his kids to play hard and when she saw him walk in the gym during warm-up I think it really motivated her. I think she wanted to play well tonight for him."
The win was the Buccaneers' sixth consecutive victory and dropped Panola to 10-12 on the year and 2-7 in Region XIV.
The Buccaneers led 54-31 by halftime and extended that lead to as many as 33 points in the second half.
"We're pretty talented offensively and we got on a few good runs," Jenkins said.
Freshman forward Amari Jones scored 15 points on the heels of her 14-point performance Wednesday against San Jacinto.
"She's our best perimeter defender and she's starting to hit her own perimeter shot a little bit more," Jenkins said. "She will continue to get big minutes if she can score and play great defense. When she's scoring, she needs to play 25-30 minutes."
Freshman guard Moe Bedford scored 13 points and sophomore forward Audrisa Harrison just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds. Shanequa Gaston tallied eight points while Jazzmin Parker scored seven points and grabbed seven boards.
"We're pretty deep this year," Jenkins said. "We can overcome a few injuries over the course of the season and still be playing pretty well."
Atoe Jackson led Panola with 17 points.
The Buccaneers will be on the road Saturday when they play at Kilgore College at 4 p.m.
