Sacred Heart took on Opelousas Catholic Friday night in a key district game. The Lady Trojans continued to commit venial sins of basketball along with other mental gaffes; however, prompt succor intervened as they went on to win 49-48 in double overtime on Trojan Lane.
"It was a very big win in overtime tonight," said coach Stephanie Fontenot. "We had numerous people foul out, but our girls fought to the end. We had a bunch of young people on the floor at the end, and they stuck with it. And our seniors stepped it up and were leaders."
The seniors the coach alluded to include Kara Aguillard, Gabbie Andrepont, and Mary Margaret Gil. The three echoed the same sentiments of pride and teamwork after the game. "It was a hard fight tonight," commented Aguillard. "We couldn't be more proud what we've accomplished so far! Proud to be a Trojan."
"Nothing but complete teamwork," added Andrepont. "Proud to call these girls family."
"It was a team effort the entire game," added Mary Margaret Gil. "So proud of our team!"
That sense of Trojan Pride spilled over onto the bench. Sydney Shiver, who was out of the game due to illness, went on to say, "Watching from the stands I couldn't be more proud of the team."
Catherine Poche with her team down 4-0 scrored the Trojans' first points on the night, and Gabbie Andrepont tied it up. Kara Aguillard was at the line and made both shots to take the 6-5 lead. OC tied the game with a three ball as the first quarter expired. Sacred Heart ended the quarter with twice as many points than fouls and a tied ballgame at 8-8.
Poche gave her team a 12-8 advantage early in the 2nd quarter. OC made a big three to take a 21-15 lead and started to take advantage of the Sacred Heart mental gaffes. Sacred Heart scored on back-to-back possessions to come back and tie the game at 21 with seconds remaining before the half. The half ended with the home team leading 22-21.
Poche scored to go up 24-22, and a timeout was called on the court with Sacred Heart leading 26-21 at the 4:40 mark of the third quarter. Whitney Tate got the offensive rebound from Andrepont's miss and put it back up for two points to go up 28-21. Erin Fontenot ended an OC run to go up 30-26 seconds before the 3rd quarter ended. Kara Aguillard was at the line and sunk both free throws giving her team a 32-26 lead at the end of three quarters of play.
Andrepont scored early in the fourth quarter to go up 34-26. OC went on another run cutting into the Trojan lead as the score was 34-31. OC was at the line with 3:47 left in regulation and sunk both to make it a one point game as the mental gaffes continued. Aguillard got the offensive rebound and the basket going up 38-33 on the scoreboard with just over two minutes remaining. OC drilled a three on the other side of the court making it a two point game at 40-38 as a timeout was called on the court and with 21.9 seconds on the clock. OC then tied it at 40 sending the game to overtime.
OC made it a one point game with just over a minute left on the clock and answered to tie the game at 45 as a timeout was called on the court with 59.4 left on the clock. Mary Margaret Gil got the offensive rebound and the score, but OC drilled another three to take the 48-47 lead. Tate was credited with the big defensive steal and passed the ball to Andrepont for the easy layup and the one point lead at 49-48 with 0.4 seconds on the clock.
The Lady Trojans found a way to win by overcoming the sins and mental gaffes. The team lived up to the school's motto of "We are one for all and all for Alma Mater" and will be loyal and true to the end of this basketball season.
Fundraising efforts are underway to install air conditioning in the Mamou High School gym to combat those hot summer nights. Project organizer Vivian LaFleur said in a statement, "Our community prides itself on being a community that gives. Let's pull together and make our hometown school better for our children and future Green Demons."
It was not the weather outside but rather the action on the court that was hot on this Friday night in January. The Lady Demons started the action with a tilt against Kinder opening up district play and went on to earn a 69-31 win. "We talked before the game that we're on a mission to win district," said head coach Mark Temple. "We're trying to get the championship that has been eluding us for the past two years."
"The game tonight was predicated on the defensive end and also on moving the ball," continued Temple. "We've been practicing that all week preparing for Kinder and the rest of our opponents. We've been preaching to push the ball ahead and take our turnovers and convert them into points."
Mamou led 3-0 on a shot from Arkie Thomas. She followed it up with another three-pointer on the next possession. Darelzray Thomas put the basketball through the net giving the Lady Demons a 10-0 lead. Kinder cut the lead in half, but Mamou regained control on back-to-back baskets. Mamou closed out the first quarter leading 19-8.
Kamaneisha Wilson scored on an easy layup to extend the lead early in the second quarter. Arkie Thomas drilled a three ball to go up 26-8 at the 6:19 mark of the 2nd, then Tia Gallow scored another three pointer to give Mamou a 30-8 lead. The Lady Demons at this point were firing on all cylinders and closed out the first half leading 42-14.
Wilson started the scoring for Mamou in the second half giving her team a 30-point lead. The point differential remained relatively the same thoughout the third quarter as it ended with Mamou leading 53-26. The home team continued firing on all cylinders to preserve the win and started district play with a 1-0 record.
The Mamou boys kept the heat on the court with a nightcap win against the Jennings Bulldogs by a score of 71-53. "This is a very good basketball team we have," said head coach John Jack. "I've been waiting for them to come back with this kind of potential. This was probably our best performance all year."
Luke Thomas was at the line early to give Mamou a three point lead the old fashioned way. He extended the lead to 8-4 on a jumper. Trey Wilson then dribbled coast to coast for the basket to go up 11-4. Mamou closed out the first quarter leading 15-12
Jennings scored with a three ball to make it a one point game, but Mack Thomas answered with a three of his own giving Mamou a 22-18 lead. JaQuaylen Arvie gave Mamou a 10-point lead halfway through the 2nd quarter. Mack Thomas then scored with his second three ball of the night giving his team a 35-22 lead with about two minutes left before the half. Cordell Frank scored a basket to close out a very physical first half with Mamou leading 39-25.
Mamou starting to score in succession and earned an 18-point advantage with five minutes left in the third quarter. The quarter closed with Mamou leading 55-42. The physicality of the first half carried over into the second, and Mamou continued to play its brand of basketball as it held on for the win.
"I thought our offense was excellent," said Jack. "I thought we played real good defense. We fast breaked for the first time I've seen. I thought we had an overall game plan. I thought we executed well."
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.
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.
Stephanie Fontenot and George Broussard led their troops into Eunice Thursday night for a game against the St. Ed's Blue Jays. The Lady Trojans outmanned the home team dressing out 19 players compared to only 10 across the court. This led to the Lady Trojans outgunning their hosts for a 10 point win 46-36.
Leading the way for the Lady Trojans was Kara Aguillard with 16 points who shot seven for nine from the field. Her first basket on the night was an early three pointer to tie the game. She later scored with another trey to go up 32-23 at the 6:03 mark of the third quarter.
Gabbie Andrepont was not far behind Aguillard in the points column racking up 12 points. She also batted a thousand from the field shooting at a five-for-five clip. Also batting a thousand for the Lady Trojans was Emilyse Bergeron who made a basket off the bench late in the contest.
Thursday night was the first St. Ed's basketball game with the football players since losing in the first round of the football playoffs last week. The team previously played two games in the Eunice jamboree. This because of lack of playing time together led to a lack of cohesiveness and a lot of bad passes in the first game of the regular season. The visiting Trojan team rather had more time to gel and play together as a team and won by a score of 52-42.
Chris Rider is coaching in his first year as head coach for Sacred Heart. He said "we wanted to come out against our rival school and play the best we could, and I think our boys showed a good game."
"We started off in a 1-2-2 defense, and it worked real well for us," he added. "Defense is gonna be our big strength this year, and offense we just gonna have to work at some of the plays being in a new system."
The Trojans were listening to the mandolin rain as three point shots came raining down on the night. Garrett Ortego scored two three pointers. His first came to put his team up 10-4, and he added his second before the first half ended. Keaton Tate knocked down another trey from the side of the key en route to his team leading 16 points. The final trey came from Jacques Fontenot to go up 25-14. Seth Shipp added 10 points as the second Trojan with double-digit points behind Fontenot's 16.
As for the coach's thoughts after the game, "So I think it was a good night so far. Starting the off 1-0, I couldn't ask for more."
When last we saw Church Point play a team from Evangeline Parish, it was Week 7 of the season as the Bears were running rampant through Pine Prairie propelled by big plays en route to a 41-13 win. This week in Week 10 the Bears were matched up against another team from the parish as the Ville Platte Bulldogs travelled to Church Point trying to spoil Senior Night.
The Church Point area was hit by bad weather throughout the week leaving behind not the best in field conditions. The field between the hash marks and between the 20-yard line and the 40-yard line on both sides of the field looked more like a mud track than a football field. Players' jerseys on both teams were covered in mud from wallowing in the slick turf as they tried to tackle the opposition and tried to elude tackles. The home team did a better job of adjusting to the field conditions and again like against Pine Prairie used the big play to take down the visiting Bulldogs 34-6.
The first quarter did not have much offense as both teams were slowed by the conditions on the field. Church Point turned the ball over on downs on the first possession of the game, and the Ville Platte was then forced to punt. Breelyn Jones picked up the punt and returned it to the Bulldog 37. The Bulldog defense stops the run to force 4th down. Breshonski Jones and Tahj Jack stepped up big for Ville Platte to force another turnover on downs. The Bulldog offense again failed to capitalize on the defensive stop and were forced top punt.
The Bears following the punt and took over at their own 35. On 2nd-and-5 Fred Williams burst through the Bulldog line and sprinted toward the end zone before getting wrapped up by Ronderkus Ben just shy of the goal line, but on the next play Church Point took it in for six points. The opening quarter ended by the same 6-0 score.
Williams on the next Bear possession again with his mud tread tires sprinted for a 12 yard gain down the near side toward end zone but was wrapped up by Terez Alfred at the Bulldog 15. Troy Matte then handed off to Eron Walker for another six points on the board from 15 yards out. The two-point conversion attempt was good putting the Bears up by 14-0.
The Bulldog offense looked like it made the necessary adjustments to deal with the slick conditions. Alfred on 1st-and-15 kept the ball himself and ran down the far side picking up a nice chunck of real estate for 2nd-and-5. The offensive converted for a first down but again was held in check bringing up another punt. The punter was tackled at the Bulldog 15 where the Bears took over. This sequence of events resulted in one of two passing touchdowns for either team as the Bears went up 21-0.
The other passing touchdown on the night came with about two minutes remaining on the third quarter and came on 4th-and-20. Matte threw a pass to Trey Babineaux for a 22-yard pass completion for a score.
The lone score on the night for the Bulldogs came between the Bear aerial attacks. Ville Platte started the second half with Martin Jason fielding the kick and returning it to the 40 yard line. Moments later Alfred scampered all the way down the far side of the field for a 57 yard touchdown run.
The Bears ranked number five in the power rankings prevailed over the Bulldogs on a slick field and with the win are guaranteed to host the opening game of the Class 3-A playoffs which will begin next week. The road to the Super Dome will pass through Church Point.
