New Iberia Senior High’s Kierra Anthony (5) goes up for a shot against Walker in the Class 5A semifinals in Lake Charles.

New Iberia Senior High’s Kierra Anthony has been in the forefront of Lady Jacket basketball for the past four years.

From helping lead the team to district titles, to playoff bids to becoming a member of the 2,000 point club, Anthony has been through it all, usually from her point guard role directing the NISH offense on one side of the court and playing solid defense on the other side.

But what she managed to do her senior year really spoke volumes about what she meant to the Lady Jackets.

Despite missing about a third of the season due to injury, Anthony returned to lead NISH to a third place finish in district, a berth in the playoffs, and topped it off by helping the team to the LHSAA State Tournament for the first time since 1980.

Along the way, she was named MVP and first team All-District, and stands a good chance of being named to the LSWA Class 5A All-State team when it is released later this week.

“She definitely ended her high school career on a high note,” said NISH girls basketball coach Robert Pinckney. “She had a very special season and very special performances in the playoffs.

“I just can’t say enough about what she’s done for the team and what she’s done over her four years here.”

Coming into her senior year off of being selected Honorable Mention All-State Class 5A, everyone on NISH’s schedule knew that Anthony was going to be the go-to person for Pinckney’s Lady Jackets and prepared for her this year. As a junior, Anthony had help with fellow guard Moesha Kinard to take some of the pressure off of her. But as a senior, the majority of the offense was going to go through Anthony. Even with all that pressure, she still managed to exceed expectations.

“If it wasn’t for a couple of games she missed with injury, who knows just exactly what she would have accomplished this year,” said the NISH coach. “I think that in the end, she set the bar and was the example for the younger players on the team.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had that kind of player who set the bar for the younger classmen to follow.”

Perhaps Anthony’s best this year was in the playoffs as she almost willed NISH into the state tournament.

“We watched West Monroe and Sulphur try to guard her with two players in the playoffs and she just blew by them,” said Pinckney. “She is a special young lady.”

For her efforts in leading NISH to the Class 5A state semifinals, Kierra Anthony is named Most Valuable Player of the 2014-15 Best of the Teche Girls Basketball team.

And for their efforts in coaching the Lady Jackets to the Class 5A semifinals, NISH head coach Robert Pinckney and assistant coach Jeremy Bonin are named co-Coach of the Year for the team.

Joining Anthony on the team this year is NISH teammate forward Urionne Jolivette, Catholic High guard Lexi Landry, Delcambre guard Nicole Bouillion and Franklin forward Fabian Small.

Anthony and Jolivette made a potent duo for Pinckney.

“Uri came in and everybody knows that she missed her junior year with a bad knee injury that occurred in the first game of the season,” said Pinckney. “She was scared at first to push off that leg this year.

“Someway about midway through the season, she shed her knee brace on her own.

“I think that in the end she just had enough of it and she figured that if it was going to blow out again so be it. Once she did that, she was a different player.”

Anthony averaged 24 points per game for the Jackets, Jolivette averaged a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Landry was a six year starter for the Lady Panthers, and as a senior led Catholic High in scoring and almost single-handedly led the team into the playoffs, falling a game short of the goal.

“She stepped up her game this year,” said Catholic High coach Ashlyn Grossie. “Coming in as a new coach, Lexi was like the second coach on the floor.

“She knew her role. I told her from day one that I was going to need a little more from her and whatever I asked of her she did. No questions why or why me?”

Grossie said that Landry was being double and triple-covered every time out and still managed to score her points and get the rest of the team involved.

“She did a great job of being patient so we could get the ball in her hands,” said Grossie.

Landry ended up being a first-team All-District 5-2A player for CHS as did Bouillion, who finished the season averaging 15 points per game in district and 22 points per game overall.

“Nicole means everything to the team,” said DHS coach Lisa Richard. “She’s been a starter since the seventh grade and was basically the leader in what she does.

“She’s going to give you 100 percent, whether your winning or losing. She’s always looking to get better and make her team better. Her agenda is not to score 30 points per game, it’s to make the team better.”

Richard added that all Bouillion wants to do is win. It’s not about her, it’s about the team and it always has been that way for her.

Small was a first team All-District 9-3A selection for Franklin.

The second team Girls Best of the Teche includes NISH guard Taylor Jacob, Jeanerette guard/forward Kristi Rideaux, Loreauville guard/forward Tyler Gaddison, Delcambre guard/forward Taylor Moneaux and Hanson guard Haley Bollinger

Honorable Mention to the team includes Catholic High’s Payton LeBlanc, Jeanerette’s Mytajah Jeanlouis and Jalisha Thomas, Loreauville’s Shantajah Vital, Hanson’s Alyssa Young, Casey Fitzgerald and Stephanie Roig, Highland Baptist’s Erin Fleming, Franklin’s Quanta Jones, Wynesha Jenkins and Kaira Butler