The Woodlawn Panther Basketball program was notified of its playoff seeding Monday, February 23rd, and the opponent is extremely familiar.
The Panthers will travel to face fellow District 5-5A member East Ascension. The Spartans received the #13 seed in the LHSAA Class 5A Playoff Bracket, meaning Woodlawn is the #20 seed. This is the third year that the Panthers have travelled in the first round of the playoffs. The 2018-2019 team was the 25th seed, and the 2019-2020 team was the 21st seed.
Given the obstacles that the season presented, Coach Voight and the Panthers are excited about the opportunity.
“Considering that seven or eight months ago, we were not sure if we would even have a season, we are extremely excited about the playoffs,” said Coach Voight. “We were unable to have summer league, our preseason workouts were pushed back, and we had to deal with quarantines. We are just grateful that we are in the position we are in.”
Despite being the higher ranked team, East Ascension comes into the contest with an 11-12 record. Coach Voight has already warned his team not to underestimate the Spartans based on this.
“Our players have already been cautioned about EA. They have some quality losses. Their losses have come to teams in the top-five, and top-ten, of their classifications. They have also beaten some quality teams, notably White Castle and Alexandria, who are both top ten teams.”
The Panthers and Spartans will be facing each other for the first time this season. The teams were scheduled to play on January 28th, but a Covid-19 quarantine postponed that game. The two coaching staffs discussed a makeup date, but weather and ice cancelled the last week of the season for both teams. This adds adversity for both programs, as each team will have been off for at least 13 days.
Coach Voight points to making shots and valuing possessions as keys to the game.
“I look for this game to be a grind, and we will need to hit some shots,” said Coach Voight. “We haven’t been able to do that during district. We have to keep them out of transition as much as possible, so we must limit turnovers.”
The Panthers and Spartans will tip-off on Friday, February 26th, 7 pm on the East Ascension campus. Tickets must be purchased on-line using a link that will be provided by East Ascension on Friday morning.
