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The playoffs may have just started, but the Terrebonne High girls’ basketball team has been in postseason mode for a long time.
“We’ve been in plenty of big games this season,” said senior forward Sierra Lyons. “It’s not something we think about anymore.”
The Lady Tigers spent the last month of their season in “Must Win” mode, because the team was running stride-for-stride with Thibodaux for the District 8-5A title.
After the teams ended the regular season tied, Terrebonne won a one-game playoff with Thibodaux and moved to the playoffs as the district champion and Class 5A’s No. 6 seed.
So it was business as usual on Thursday for the Lady Tigers in the opening round of the playoffs as Terrebonne rolled to a 48-35 win against Westgate.
“I told our team that throughout the year, we’d played in a lot of practice playoff games,” said Terrebonne coach Gregory Knox. “All of those games took a lot out of us, but it showed us what we needed to do in the real thing. I think that will help us out.”
Terrebonne beat Westgate 53-26 in a pre-district tournament on Dec. 27.
But things were not nearly as easy this time around, as Westgate used a physical defense to annoy Lyons and keep the Lady Tigers’ offense out of rhythm.
Westgate forward LaVasha Allen towered over Lyons and held her to just six points.
Lyons, who just recently surpassed Terrebonne’s school record with 1,550 rebounds, said being defended by Allen was a challenge she had not seen this season.
“We’re used to being the biggest team on the court, because in district, we always have the two biggest players,” Lyons said. “[Allen] was huge. She’s very aggressive. She wasn’t attacking like that the first time we’d seen them. But I think that can help me down the road.”
Knox said he warned his team prior to the game to not let their prior meeting with Westgate affect their preparation.
“That’s a good team there who plays very hard,” he said. “We knew what happened the first time didn’t mean anything this time.”
The Lady Tigers countered Westgate with stifling defense of their own , while limiting them to just one shot on offense to seal the win.
“They’re so big on the front, we knew we had to box out and keep them off the glass,” Knox said. “We weren’t perfect, but we did a good job.”
With the win, Terrebonne will move to the second round and play Mandeville, who earned a 64-54 win against Hahnville. The teams met on Monday and a score was not available at press time.
But if Lyons has anything to say about the outcome, the Lady Tigers will march into the Quarterfinals.
“We think we can be awesome,” she said. “The best team in the history of the school. That’s our goal.”
Elsewhere in the Tri-Parish area:
Terrebonne was one of three Tri-parish teams to move to the second round of the playoffs.
In 5A, Thibodaux moved to the second round with a 51-36 home win against Zachary. The Lady Tigers met St. Thomas More in the second round on Monday. St. Thomas More made it to that game by beating South Lafourche in the opening round.
Vandebilt Catholic defended its No. 1 ranking in 4A and pounded Karr 68-31. The Lady Terriers, who are the reigning Class 4A state runners up, hosted Peabody on Monday in the second round of the playoffs.
The Lady Terriers enter the playoffs with a 16-game win streak. Vandebilt also has the luxury of boasting arguably the best player in the state in Theresa Plaisance, who was named last week to the McDonald’s All-America team.
Plaisance did her part in the team’s opening round game and had a team-high 14 points.
Ellender was defeated in the opening round in 4A by Ursuline Academy in an 84-27 blowout.
Local teams did not fare as well in 3A as E.D. White and Patterson were both knocked out in the opening round. The Lady Cardinals were upset 48-43 by Brusly and Loyola Prep scored a 76-35 win against Patterson.
Terrebonne senior guard Alaina Verdin attempts a shot over a Westgate defender in the team’s first round playoff win. The Lady Tigers are one of three Tri-parish teams still alive in the girls’ basketball playoffs. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR
