Fugitives arrested in Lafourche
March 7, 2017
Character at a young age
March 7, 2017
Longtime Ellender Memorial girls’ basketball coach Kenneth Dixon now has an entire hand full of championship rings to add to one of the most impressive coaching résumés in the history of Louisiana prep girls’ basketball.
The legendary local coach won his fifth-career state championship ring on Saturday when the Lady Patriots roared past Salmen 65-49 in the Class 4A State Championship Game.
The victory snapped a decade-long title drought for the Lady Patriots dating back to 2007. It also ended a multi-year postseason slump which saw the team falter in the early rounds of the playoffs for several-straight seasons.
After the win, Dixon said the credit for his heavy, ring-filled hand isn’t his, but is more due to the players along the way who have made it all possible.
Dixon said he’s proud of his team for their hard work and dedication throughout a season that he said was filled with tough challenges and adversity. He said this championship is one of his sweetest – his first since a brief retirement during the 2014-15 season.
“The kids really work hard. They do. They really dedicate themselves, and I am really proud of them and really blessed to be able to guide them and work with them,” Dixon said. “They did a good job. They really played good. There are things we could have improved or fixed, but we never panicked and we played relaxed. I am happy for them to accomplish this.”
For Dixon, the win was his official welcome back celebration in Hammond – a place where he’d won four other championships before.
Dixon retired from coaching after the 2013-14 season to take care of his mother. At the time, he said he was reserved to the fact that he’d likely never coach again.
But things changed.
He returned in 2015-16, and administration quickly put the bug in his ear about being back on the bench. Dixon said he hesitated at first, but then caved, returning to his longstanding post.
“I got roped back in,” Dixon said with a laugh. “I would have been OK being at home at 2:30 and not having to worry about stress. … I got lazy. I liked being home. But they needed me, so I came back. And the kids showed me they wanted to work, so I had to meet them halfway and coach them up as best as I could to the best of my ability.”
Dixon has a loaded deck – an army of players who are all capable.
The Lady Patriots have guards, posts and depth – often going 10 or more deep in games.
Throughout the season, it was Ellender’s speed and athleticism that overwhelmed everyone else in Louisiana for Class 4A.
Against Salmen, it was no different.
The Lady Patriots started fast offensively on Saturday afternoon, trading early baskets with the Lady Spartans throughout the first quarter in a well-played, up-tempo game.
Ellender led 17-13 at the end of the first quarter and then 32-27 at halftime.
But Dixon said despite the lead, he wasn’t overly pleased with the way his team was playing in the first half.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “We really challenged them to get better and to finish strong, because Salmen wasn’t going to stop coming at us.”
Junior Oreion James took her coach’s words closest to heart, dominating a third-quarter stretch that gave Ellender complete control of the game.
The Lady Patriots won the third quarter handily, giving the team a 51-36 lead after three quarters – a lead Ellender never surrendered down the stretch.
James was a huge culprit in that, dominating the inside, scoring points while limiting the amount of clean possessions the Lady Spartans had on the other end.
James finished the game with 14 points. She was named the Most Outstanding Player for the Lady Patriots in the victory.
That honor was deserved but could have also gone to others, as well. Ellender was beautifully balanced in Saturday’s win, also getting 14 points from Terris McKay, 13 points from Nikkia Johnson and seven and six each from Trastasia Hester and Tanisha Hester, respectively.
“It is a great honor,” James said after the game. “We did this together. It was a total team thing.”
But the Lady Patriots may not be done. They’re still awfully young for a title-winning team.
Ellender has just two seniors – Johnson and Vashawn McKinley.
They return a mountain of high-end talent next season, including James, McKay among several other key contributors.
Johnson said she hopes those younger teammates keep their work ethic up in the offseason and come back stronger than ever.
She said the feeling of winning the State Championship as a senior is something she will never forget.
“It’s unbelievable,” Johnson said. “It just feels so good.”
For Dixon, too, even if it’s a feeling he’s experienced many times before.
He said the grinds that come with decades of coaching take a toll on his body and emotions – especially now in the later stages of his career.
But the joy of winning? That’s a feeling that never feels old, according to Dixon.
He would know.
He’s experienced that feeling almost as much as anyone in the history of the sport at the prep level.
“It feels like home,” Dixon said when asked what it was like to be back in Hammond at the Top 28. “It feels right. This is why we’re here.”
HOUMA CHRISTIAN FALLS IN TITLE GAME
Just 24 hours before Ellender enjoyed the top of the mountain in Class 4A, another local team finished its season just one rung short of where it wanted to be in Division IV.
No. 1 Houma Christian lost in the Division IV State Championship Game on Friday afternoon, surrendering a 54-46 game to Lafayette Christian at the Top 28 in Hammond.
The loss caps the most successful girls’ basketball season in the history of the Christian Warriors program with a 25-10 record.
First-year coach Tammy Martin said at the postgame press conference after the game that her team has nothing to be ashamed of, because they’ve enjoyed an amazing season.
“We tried our best,” Martin said. “I’m very proud of them. We competed, and it just went the other way.”
Gutsy defense sealed the win for Lafayette Christian.
The Lady Knights made Houma Christian’s high-powered, pressure-based attack play from its heels throughout the game, utilizing a methodical pace that was aimed at keeping the Christian Warriors from making a prolonged run.
Lafayette Christian led 22-18 at halftime, then 35-26 after three.
Houma Christian battled throughout the game but never seriously threatened the lead, surrendering the title to the Lady Knights.
A coach with ties to the Houma-Thibodaux area was on the winning end of the tough, physical game – even with Houma Christian’s defeat.
Lafayette Christian is coached by Errol Rogers, who is a former assistant coach under Kathy Luke during her time at Vandebilt Catholic High School.
He said he was proud of his team’s defense in the win.
“We kept them off balance,” he said. “Our defense was great.”
Martin agreed, but added that that’s how things go sometimes in basketball.
She said she wanted to thank the Houma Christian faculty, staff and players for a historic year.
“It’s been an awesome run,” she said. “We hope to be back pretty soon.” •
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