Cooler heads must prevail
March 7, 2018
Colonels heading to Katy with swagger
March 7, 2018
Friday night was like déjà vu all over again for the Houma Christian girls’ basketball team.
The Lady Warriors lost to Lafayette Christian 38-29 in the Division IV State Championship Game – the second-straight year that Houma Christina advances to the big game.
Last year, they had the same result – losing to Lafayette Christian, which repeats as champions.
Houma Christian had a great gameplan and the team executed it flawlessly throughout the game, limiting the high-powered Lafayette Christian offense down for most of the game.
But at the end of the day, the Lady Warriors couldn’t score enough to threaten the championship.
“We didn’t play our best offensively,” Houma Christian coach Kathy Luke said after the game. “I thought we played hard. But we didn’t play as well offensively as I thought we could have. And that was one of the differences in the game.”
The poor offensive day spoiled a masterful performance by Houma Christian’s defense.
Lafayette Christian is a high-powered offensive team that scored 55 or more points in every postseason game they’d played – all without really being challenged throughout the state tournament.
But Houma Christian stymied them, limiting them to just 15 field goals for the game and 21 points in the first half.
But the problem is that Houma Christian couldn’t do enough scoring to overtake the No. 1 seed in the state.
The Lady Warriors were ice cold in Friday night’s game in all facets of the game.
Houma Christian shot just 25 percent from the field and made just three free throws in 17 tries.
Houma Christian trailed by 6 at halftime and by 8 going to the fourth quarter.
They had flurries in the final 8 minutes to try and trim the deficit, but could never score enough to threaten the first-place trophy.
No Houma Christian played finished in double figures, but sophomore Kourtne Lee had eight points in the game.
“They had a good plan,” said Lafayette Christian coach Errol Rogers, who coached with Luke during her time at Vandebilt. “They were well prepared. They took us out of our rhythm offensively, but I think we made enough plays on the defensive end to find a way to get the job done.”
Luke said even in defeat, she was proud of her team.
Few few people predicted Houma Christian to make the State Finals for a second-straight season after losing a big senior class and also their head coach after the 2016-17 season.
But Luke came into the program and reinvigorated life into a team that battled youth throughout the season, but progressed throughout.
Luke said she tipped her hat to Lafayette Christian for playing a great game and a great season. She said her kids are tough and resilient and will bounce back in the offseason going toward next year.
She said it was great to be back at the Top 28 – a place she coached many times during her long, storied run at Vandebilt Catholic.
“Our kids fought until the ned and we never gave up,” she said.
SOUTH LAFOURCHE FALTERS IN SEMIFINALS
Houma Christian lost in the State Semifinals.
The area’s other Top 28 team, South Lafourche, faltered one round earlier in the State Semifinals.
The Lady Tarpons lost to Neville 56-45 last Tuesday – ending the team’s season two wins short of the Class 4A State Championship.
The Lady Tarpons were doomed by a poor start.
Neville jumped on South Lafourche 21-2 in the first quarter before South Lafourche battled back and cut the lead to six points in the third quarter.
But the Lady Tarpons never got closer than that, surrendering the game to the Layd Tigers, who advanced to the State Finals and got beat by Warren Easton 56-40.
“I think our nerves got to us a little bit in the beginning, you know, being on this big of a stage,” South Lafourche coach Rainie Terrebonne said. “We fought hard. We came back and we made it close. But we were never able to dig ourselves out of that hole that we started in.”
Neville’s size bothered South Lafourche.
The Lady Tigers pounded the ball to senior Tyeisha Scott, who stands every bit of 6-foot, 3-inches tall and possesses a wide, muscular frame.
Scott dominated the post, controlling the paint and the glass for Neville in that early rally.
Her energy limited the Lady Tarpons to outside shots, which were not falling in the game.
“She was big and strong,” senior post Victorianna Nelson said. “I don’t think it was anything we’d never seen before, but she was big and good. It gave us some problems.”
South Lafourche had a golden opportunity in the third quarter to grab control of the game, limiting Neville to just 3 third-quarter points and one field goal – a last-second putback shot at the buzzer.
But instead of taking control of the game and grabbing the lead, South Lafourche was just as cold – scoring just 6 points in the quarter, which allowed Neville to right the ship in the fourth quarter and secure the win.
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