Sacred Heart Boys against North Central

            As much of the northeast hunkered down for a blizzard, the Sacred Heart boys basketball team Tuesday night hunkered down for a hurricane as North Central paid a visit. The Trojans appeared to be weathering the storm most the night, but in the end the Hurricanes picked up a late burst of hot air to come from behind and win 57-55. The North Central head coach spoke for both coaches as he said, “The kids (from both teams) played their hearts out tonight.”

The student section started getting into the game, and the Trojans fed off the enthusiasm on both ends of the court. At the end of 1 from the Sacred Heart gym, the Trojans lead 18-11. The Trojan squad continued to feed off the enthusiasm, and Seth Shipp looked like Odell Beckham, Jr., out there with the one handed catch and score to go up 43-37.

The enthusiasm began to wane as North Central headed to the line with 5:33 left in the game and split a pair of free throws. Laughlin retook control with a basket to go up 50-47. North Central again cut it within 1. Timeout on the court at 1:32 mark had Sacred Heart up 50-49.

North Central took the lead 51-50. Jacques Fontenot was at line with just under a minute left and sunk both foul shots. Sean Fontenot scored a layup to go up 53-52. The Hurricanes went up 55-52 with 34.1 seconds remaining. The three point play was good. Sean Fontenot answered making the score 56-54 with 22.5 seconds left. Tate headed to the line with 14.1 seconds left and split the pair of free throws. North Central was then at the line for 1-and-1 to go up 57-55. With 10.8 seconds remaining Tate went back to the line. Timeout on the court Trojans were down 57-55 with 7.5 seconds left on the clock. Shipp inbounded from midcourt coming out of back-to-back timeouts. He passed to Sean Fontenot who shot a 3 point basket that was no good as time expired.

Sacred Heart Girls vs North Central

            In a game when the Sacred Heart fans were figuring out the area of similar rectangles, the Lady Trojan basketball team was figuring out math problems of its own as to finding the best angles to the basket. There right angles came out more acute and obtuse as they fell victim against the North Central Lady Hurricanes 75-30.

Natalie Earles scored the first points on the night. North Central answered, and Joseph put the Hurricanes ahead 4-2. At the 6:04 mark, Robertson from North Central shot from the free throw line to increase the lead to 6-2.

Earles picked up a defensive rebound, dribbled coast-to-coast, and was fouled. At the 5:37 mark, Sacred Heart was down 6-3. Kara Aguillard then added bucket to pull within 1.

            North Central moments later went on a 22-0 scoring run as the fans started murmuring that the Trojans needed to slow down. Moira Parks broke the scoring draught just over halfway through the quarter. Sacred Heart was at that point down 28-7.

After the teams traded a series of buckets, North Central buried a 3 pointer to go up 42-11. Earles was fouled at the half time buzzer and sank a foul shot. At the half Sacred Heart was down 46-12.

Martin started the half with a lay up to put the Hurricanes up 48-12. At the 5:25 mark Gabbie Andrepont went to the bench with her 4^th foul as North Central went up 52-15. Joseph from North Central shot, scored, and almost went through the stage doors to go up 58-17. Sacred Heart added a bucket in the waning moments of the quarter as North Central was then up 61-21. Earles and Andrepont then added six points for the Trojans.  

            Borrowing from Ernest Lawrence Thayer, there was no joy to end the game as Gabbie Andrepont fouled out.

Sacred Heart boys survive against the Hornets

            The Sacred Heart Trojan basketball team Friday night survived a storm of three point shots to defeat Catholic of Pointe Coupee 66-52. Trojan head coach Gerald Cayer said of his squad, “We’ve been having problems making easy shots, and we made them tonight. Also we had problems shooting foul shots, and we nailed them tonight. And that’s the big difference. The last seven or eight games that’s been some of the problems we’ve been having. We’ve been working, and it paid off tonight.”

            Seth Shipp knocked down the first two Trojan buckets giving the home team a 4-0 lead at the 7:05 mark. Christopher Tate answered a Hornet score with a three point play. Sean Fontenot then drained a trey putting the Trojans up 10-2.

            With 4:25 to go in the first quarter, Cayer told his squad to “stay in the paint.” That is when the storm of three point shots began. Mikey Laughlin for the Trojans got in on the three point shooting as he made one from the corner of the key. The score was tied 17-17 at the end of one.

            Sean Fontenot tied the game at 19 and gave the Trojans a lead as he made both foul shots at the 4:33 mark of the second quarter. Laughlin then added another three point basket and increased the lead to 25-24. The natives started getting restless as Sean Fontenot picked up a foul and headed to the bench with his team up 26-25 as the first half was winding down. The half came to a close with the Trojans up by the same score.

            The second half saw emotions riding high from both ends of the bleachers. Tate scored the first four points of the second half for the Trojans. Laughlin then picked up an offensive rebound and scored. At the 5:51 mark of the third quarter, the home team was up 32-30. Tate and Gabe Fontenot each scored a three point bucket in the quarter as the Trojans went up 43-40 at the end of three.

            Laughlin again drained a three pointer before a technical foul on the Hornets sent Sean Fontenot to the charity stripe for two shots. He made them both, and the Trojans retained possession. Unofficial stats on the night reflect Shipp added eight points to close out the game and to secure the win for the Trojans.

           

Sacred Heart wins with wholesale substitutions

            The Sacred Heart Lady Trojans pitched a shutout until the 5:08 mark of the second quarter and used wholesale substitutions Friday night to defeat Catholic of Pointe Coupee 55-15. The Trojans opened the spigot early in the game, and the Hornets could not find a way to stop the flood of points.  

            Gabbie Andrepont and Natalie Earles each put the Trojans on a four point run to begin the game. Erin Fontenot dribbled from coast to coast to score a bucket putting the Trojans up 14-0 at the 4:38 mark of the first quarter.

            One pair of sisters got in on the scoring to close out the first quarter as Hannah and Carrie Lemoine each scored a bucket. The elder sister added a pair of free throws putting the home team up 22-0.

            In the game head coach Stephanie Fontenot saw the dividends of mixing in her bench onto the court. Kara Aguillard scored before the 5:08 buzzer of the second quarter putting the team up 25-0. Unofficial stats on the night show she added eight more points on the night and led the bench in scoring. 

Mamou girls play like Syracuse against Pine Prairie

            On this the Twelfth Night when most people look for the baby in a king cake, the Mamou Lady Demons with a record of 13-6 went into Pine Prairie looking for a win. Coach Mark Temple in the game employed a Syracuse defense that would have given a Geno Auriemma coached team fits. This type of defense led to Mamou finding the win by a final score of 66-38.

            Temple said of his defensive effort, “We executed well defensively, and the intensity was there.” He added, “Still we got a couple of little things to get nipped and tucked for district, but other than that good execution all around.”

            Mamou began the game on a 14-0 run. Highlights of the run were Darelzray Bellard knocking down an early 3-point shot and Amber Jack driving from coast-to-coast for a 2-point bucket.

            Pine Prairie joined in on the scoring at the 4:15 mark in the first quarter as Kaitlyn Bradley knocked down a bucket. Mamou soon answered with Ka’Zhana Richard scoring a 3-point shot from way downtown. Unjel Lazard added a 3-point shot of her own giving Mamou a 22-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter for the Lady Panthers was all Bradley as she scored 8 points in the quarter. Mamou as a team in the second quarter scored 21 points. Leading the way in scoring were Kiajah Wilson, Arkieyanah Thomas, and Kamaneisha Wilson. The first half ended with Mamou up 43-14.

The third quarter was evenly matched in the score column with Mamou outscoring Pine Prairie 17-14. The big plays of the quarter were Bellard knocking down a 3-point shot from the corner of the key and Richard knocking down a bucket from the top of the key. With a time out on the court at the 2:54 mark in the third quarter, Mamou led 54-23. The Lady Panthers outscored the Lady Demons 10-6 in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough as they fell and saw their record go to 3-12 on the season.

In the game Kaitlyn Bradley led Pine Prairie with 24-points and shot at a 57% clip from the field. Tori Bordelon was the next leading scorer with 7-points as she shot 75% from the field and 100% from behind the arc.

Pine Prairie coach Renotta Edwards called the game “a learning experience” for her young team as it tries to get better.

Pine Prairie boys out physical Mamou

            The Mamou Green Demons played the basketball game Tuesday night against Pine Prairie looking like Mardi Gras riders without a captain. They knew what they had to do but were missing that leader waive the flag getting them where they needed to go. Thus they fell by a score of 76-53. With the win, the Panthers increased their record to 19-5 on the season.

            Luke Thomas from Mamou started the scoring with 2-points at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter. Nathaniel Holland quickly added another bucket along with a foul shot increasing the lead to 5-0.  Javon Ardoin scored Pine Prairie’s first points on the night from the charity stripe as he knocked down both free throws at the 6:34 mark. Allen Myles brought the Panthers within a point with a layup.

            Ardoin knocked down a trey from the top of the key giving Pine Prairie a 10-6 lead. Josh Freeman knocked down a trey of his own from the corner of the key as Pine Prairie closed out the first quarter with a 15-6 lead.

            Sylus Carson highlighted the second quarter driving from coast-to-coast and scoring for the Panthers. At the half the Panthers led 37-17. Freeman added a coast-to-coast scoring play in the third quarter increasing the lead to 52-28.

            The fourth quarter saw both teams in the bonus and saw the scoring go back-and-forth. In the end; though, it was Pine Prairie who out physicalled Mamou.

            Mamou coach John Jack thought, “we started the game pretty good the first couple of minutes. It seemed like Pine was coming with a slow start. The second quarter we just didn’t score any points. We dug ourselves a hole too deep, and once they got going we just couldn’t contain them.”

Panthers lose nail biter to Port Barre

            The Pine Prairie Panthers with a record of 3-6 overall and 0-4 in District 5 3-A hosted the Port Barre Red Devils with a similar record of 2-7 overall and 0-4 in district play. The Panthers in the regular season finale hoped to entertain the fans as much as the top-3 most watched series finales of all time as in when the Korean War ended on M*A*S*H, when Sam got back together with Diane on Cheers, and when the cast of Seinfeld was put in jail for breaking the Good Samaritan Law. The team succeeded in bringing the excitement but came up short in a nail biter by a final score of 20-13.

            Port Barre received the opening kickoff and drove 65-yards downfield for a touchdown. Keyshawn Fontenot carried the football on the opening snap for a first down to the 44-yard line of Pine Prairie. After the Panther defense appeared to hold, the Red Devils converted on third down. Deangelo Von Allen on second-and-four broke through the line setting up first-and-goal, and Fontenot carried the football the rest of the way. After a point after attempt that went wide right, Port Barre led by a score of 6-0 with 7:57 remaining in the quarter.

The Panthers fumbled on their first play from scrimmage, and Von Allen recovered the fumble and ran into the end zone increasing the lead to 13-points.

A couple of possessions later, Pine Prairie mustered a drive into Port Barre territory. The drive began with a personal foul penalty on the Panthers that backed up the football to the 14-yard line. Keenan Roy carried for a gain of 6-yards, and the Panthers then moved the chains for a first down. On third Devin Leggett completed a pass to Allen Myles at the 39-yard line to move the chains. A roughing the passer penalty against Port Barre moved the ball down to the 15-yard line as the first quarter ended.  The Panthers drove down to the 7-yard line before Keenan Roy was tripped up on fourth down turning the ball over on downs.

Port Barre was forced to punt on the next possession, but the punt was muffed and recovered by Port Barre on the Pine Prairie 40-yard line. The Red Devils capitalized on the turnover and scored a touchdown with 6:37 remaining in the half. The lead was now 20-0.

Following a Port Barre interception and subsequent punt, Pine Prairie started a drive inside enemy territory on the 43-yard line. Myles appeared to catch a pass for a touchdown, but the score was called back on an ineligible man downfield penalty. On third-and-9, Leggett connected with Javon Ardoin for a first down on the 28-yard line. A facemask penalty against Port Barre then moved the ball half the distance to the goal, and Myles caught a pass down the left side for a touchdown. Pine Prairie cut into the lead as the score was now 20-6 to close out the first half.

Pine Prairie began the second half on its own 20-yard line. Leggett completed a pass to Myles across the 50-yard line for a first down and a pass to Ardoin down the left side setting up first-and-goal. Leggett then ran a quarterback keeper for 10-yards into the end zone bringing the score to 20-13 with 8:15 remaining in the third quarter.

Devin Leggett and Javon Ardoin intercepted a Port Barre pass on subsequent possessions, but each time Pine Prairie failed to capitalize.

The Panther defense then held forcing Port Barre to turn the ball over on downs, and the Panther offense started on its own 30-yard line. Douglas Fontenot carried for first down to the 44-yard line. Leggett again completed a pass to Myles deep downfield down the left side to the 14-yard line. On third-and-10, Fontenot carried down to the 9-yard line setting up first-and-goal. However the drive stalled and the Panthers turned the ball over on downs as well.

Again the Panther defense held forcing a punt, and the Panther offense started on the 38-yard line. Leggett then completed a pass to Fontenot down at the 16-yard line of Port Barre. However, the drive again stalled as Leggett’s pass was intercepted at the goal line as time expired.

Pine Prairie coach Yves Prince said after the game, “We lost a hard game. They fought hard. We didn’t’ play hard the first half, and we came out fast in the second half. But, I’m proud of my seniors. They went down fighting. It was a good year.”