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.