Earl T. Young
March 11, 2014
Ernest Joseph Brunet Sr.
March 11, 2014
For the past three seasons, Randi Brown and Meo Knight have given their blood, sweat and tears to the Central Catholic girls’ basketball team’s quest to take home the Class 1A State Championship.
So when it finally came to fruition, it was only fitting that the duo shared the joy while united as one.
Just moments after the Lady Eagles’ 67-64 victory over North Central in the Class 1A State Finals on Saturday afternoon in Lake Charles, the crowd at Burton Coliseum learned that Brown was going to be named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1A postseason.
But instead of accepting the trophy alone, Brown demanded that Knight join her for the processions – a fitting end to the careers of the one-two punch that has dominated local girls’ basketball for the past few years.
Brown scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in the title game to earn the honor. Her effort was matched by Knight, who added 25 points of her own, including the game-clinching free throws in the final seconds of the game.
Central Catholic lost in the State Semifinals last season. The team was bounced out of the postseason in the quarterfinals in 2011-12, despite holding the No. 1 seed in the Class 1A bracket.
But the third playoff push was the charm for the duo, who said that they rose to the top together with their teammates.
“We did this, and we did this together,” Brown told reporters following the win. “We have had our ups and we’ve had our downs. We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity, and we’ve had our hearts broken, but we never doubted ourselves and we always knew that we would have our time to shine. This is the best feeling in the world. I couldn’t think of any way that would be better to end my high school career.”
“It feels so good,” Knight added. “Words cannot describe how fulfilling this is. We’ve been close, but we never were able to climb over the hump and get there. But we finally did it, and it’s just an amazing feeling to finally know that we got our ring.”
For Central Catholic, the last challenge of the season was a stiff one.
The Lady Eagles and North Central played even basketball for the first three quarters in a back and forth contest that kept fans for both squads on the edges of their seats.
The teams were tied at both the end of the first quarter (14-all) and halftime (33-all). Central Catholic won the third quarter and took the lead into the final eight minutes, but it was far from a commanding advantage. The Lady Eagles outscored North Central 15-14 in the third quarter, which gave them a 48-47 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
In the final frame, North Central took the lead and seemed poised to put the game away. But a combination of missed free throws and excellence from Brown and Knight shifted the momentum for good.
Brown scored critical buckets seemingly every time the Lady Eagles needed offense to fight off a North Central run.
Knight drilled a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to break a 64-all tie and put the Lady Eagles up by one.
After a North Central miss, senior Gee Garrett hit another free throw to push the game to its final margin with just seconds left in the season.
The Lady Hurricanes had the ball last and had a shot to send the game to overtime, but Jazlyn Robertson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer sailed wide, which signified the beginning of the party for the players and fans of the small, tightly knitted Morgan City-based private school.
“These girls have been through a lot all year long,” Lady Eagles coach Jamarr Garrett said. “We made it last year. We got a little taste of it last year, and I think that is what pushed (our team) through.”
For Central Catholic, this was likely their best shot at the title for a while, as Brown and Knight will both take their talents to the collegiate level next season.
Knight is a University of Alabama signee and Brown is fielding offers and interest from schools throughout the Southeast.
The duo admitted it will be weird to be separated next season, but added that their final memory together will last a lifetime.
“We’re never going to forget this day,” Brown said. “We went out on top.”
Indeed, the Lady Eagles did. The team, and its two stars stayed united until the very end.
THIBODAUX ROLLS TO TOP 28
While the Central Catholic girls roared through the Class 1A State Playoffs as a hefty favorite, the Thibodaux boys are creating quite a Cinderella story in the Class 5A bracket.
The Tigers entered the 32-team field as the No. 19 seed, a longshot amongst experts staked with handicapping the bracket.
But Thibodaux has refused to bow out of the playoffs without a fight, winning three-straight games to roll to the Class 5A State Semifinals.
Two of the Tigers’ victories were on the road against higher-seeded competition.
The first was the team’s opening-round postseason against Lafayette. The most recent came Friday night when Thibodaux ousted homestanding No. 6 Dutchtown 56-54 in a thriller.
With the win, Thibodaux advanced to Lake Charles for the LHSAA Top 28. The Tigers played No. 2 Natchitoches Central on Tuesday night at 7:45 p.m., with no score available at press time.
Natchitoches Central earned their way into the semifinals after beating No. 10 East Ascension 56-50 in the quarterfinals.
For Thibodaux, the quarterfinals win was loaded with drama. The two teams played even basketball throughout the game with Thibodaux holding a two-point edge with 40 seconds to play.
Instead of turning the game into a multi-possession affair, Dutchtown decided to hold for the last shot of regulation. They got a good look, as Christon Thompson got relatively free and fired a 3-pointer as time expired. But the shot fell haplessly to the floor without grazing the rim, sending both the Tigers’ team and a slew of the school’s students onto the floor in celebration.
The win marks Thibodaux’s first trip to the Top 28 since the 2004-05 season.
During that season, the Tigers moved to the Class 5A State Title game.
Thibodaux is now 23-8 on the season.
DeAndre Pharagood led Thibodaux with 13 points in the win. Tigers’ second-round hero Natron Nora pitched in 9, just days after scoring 20-plus points to help lead Thibodaux past Ouachita Parish in the Round of 16.
Central Catholic basketball standouts Meo Knight (at left) and Randi Brown hug in celebration after winning the Class 1A Girls’ Basketball State Championship. The Lady Eagles’ one-two punch may have saved their best game for last, combining for 48 points in a three-point win against North Central in the Championship Game. The win sent the dominant seniors out on a high note.
