Opelousas at Ville Platte

This year's edition of the Ville Platte Lady Bulldogs is looking to return to the Girls Top 28 Tournament for a third year in a row and looked poised to do so as it took down Opelousas 47-23 Monday night in front of a nearly capacity crowd and packed student section.
The team returns five players from the previous Top 28 teams including Jalaya Thomas, Miya McKinney, Kealogah Calvin, Jasmine Landry, and Tyreonna Doucet. Calvin led the team in scoring Monday with 14 points and Doucet scored eight points of her own. Tyreonna Doucet who played on last year's team chalked up nine points including three from beyond the arc.
Calvin stole it away on defense and converted for an opening score and began a 10-point run for the Lady Bulldogs got on the board. Ville Platte was up 10-2 at the end of the first quarter. The pendulum began to swing in favor of Opelousas as the Lady Tigers cut the lead to 12-7 in the second quarter but not before Jasmine Landry put her foot down and drained a three pointer to stop the bleeding. The Lady Bulldogs from that point maintained control of the game and preserved the win.
As far as the boys, they looked to continue the momentum into their game. They wore long sleeved purple T-shirts that read "Make 'em Believe" on the back. That belief manifested itself on the court as two players scored 20-plus points. Martin Jason turned in 21, and Kelion Semien turned in 20.
The Bulldogs were down 27-13 to close out the first quarter. The second quarter saw the Bulldogs get back in the game. Semien got the rebound on a missed free throw and scored. He later scored to make it a 12 point defecit and later split the pair of free throws as Ville Platte was down 32-21. Brandon Thomas got and offensive rebound and scores for the Bulldogs. Semioen then scored and was fouled as the near capacity crowd went wild. The Bulldogs were barking as Ville Platte trailed 37-32 with 1:51 remaining in the half. Tyran Jones sunk a three pointer to make it 39-35. Ville Platte trailed 47-40 at the half.
Opelousas started to break the game open in the third quarter, but the crowd remained in the game especially when Martin Jason made a basket with three minutes remaining in the quarter and was fouled as the crowd again went wild. The Bulldogs fell victim to the Tigers of Opelousas by a final score of 91-78, but they made themselves along with the fans believe that they can hang around with tough competition this year and make a run in the playoffs.

Bulldog battle at the dog pound

The National Dog Show came to Ville Platte Tuesday night in a game between the winning breed of the Non-Sporting Group with the Ville Platte Bulldogs hosting the David Thibodaux Bulldogs. It was an exciting game giving the home team a sense of accomplishment as it had a hand in the final outcome, and the home team never gave up. But the Best in Show title went to the visiting Bulldogs by a final score of 69-64.
Giving the visitors a huge advantage was their shooting from beyond the arc with 36 of their 69 points coming from beyond the three-point line. Jarrean Cormier and Trace Johnson led the way each knocking down five treys on the night.
Leading the way for the home team was Kelian Semien with 17 points and went three for 10 from the free throw line. Also scoring in double digits was Martin Jason with 12 points including two baskets from beyond the arc and went three of four from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs wearing home whites trailed 15-9 at the end of the first quarter. Semien in the second quarter scored a basket to end a four point run. With that the game went back-and-forth as the teams began to exchange baskets. The quarter featured Shanicole Holland knocking down four consecutive baskets including two from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs in the home whites were down by four at 26-22 with four minutes remaining before the half but could not narrow the deficit. At the half Ville Platte trailed 35-31.
The third quarter saw the home team tie the game at 38, but that is the closest the score got the rest of the night. The home team then fell down by 10 points in the final quarter and managed to cut into the lead, but it was not able to clear that final hurdle to win the game.
Ville Platte will next see action as the Bulldogs host the parish tournament this week.