Shaniya Perkins Voted the Top Class 5A Girls High School Basketball Player in Louisiana

Haughton junior led the Bucs to a No. 4 seed and first round playoff bye

Shaniya Perkins goes airborne for an easy two points / Shaniya Perkins Facebook

When the Louisiana girls high school basketball playoff brackets were released yesterday, the Haughton Buccaneers claimed the No. 4 seed in Division I nonselect, giving the Bucs a first round bye.

Haughton, which has posted a 26-4 record, can almost always count on a physical mismatch against opponents with forward Shaniya Perkins, a 6-foot-3 junior who regularly leads her team in scoring.

Perkins, who maintains a perfect 4.0 grade point average, took her game to another level as a junior after an honorable mention All-City (The Shreveport Times) sophomore campaign. After the Bucs lost their first game of the year (to No. 3 Zachary), Perkins made sure her team got back into the win column with a 25-point effort in a 48-45 win over Ouachita Parish, according to Russell Hedges of The Bossier Press Tribune.

The Buccaneers will face the winner of No. 13 Destrehan (22-8)/No. 20 Ouachita Parish (18-9) in the second round of the loaded Division I nonselect playoffs.

Perkins was named the top girls basketball player in Class 5A by fan vote.

Here's the starting five in order of votes received:

Shaniya Perkins, Haughton (MVP)

Sanaa Bean, Edna Karr

Amyja Clark, Terrebonne

Kennedi Smith, Captain Shreve

Amijah Price, Woodlawn-BR

Sixth man: Kira Johnson, Lafayette High