Patterson survives ‘Bloody Friday’, moves to Elite 8
February 28, 2012NSU names new football coaches
February 28, 2012
With two starters out for the season with injuries and a youthful roster on the floor, most of Louisiana expected the Vandebilt Catholic girls’ basketball team to make an early postseason exit.
Not so fast, so-called experts.
The Lady Terriers are one win away from another trip to the Top 28.
Thanks to a dominant first and fourth quarter, No. 2 Vandebilt punched its ticket into the state quarterfinals Thursday night, scoring a decisive 53-29 win against No. 15 Neville.
The victory marked the seventh-straight season the Lady Terriers advance to the Elite 8 of the Class 4A playoffs.
“We play as a team and we work together and we all have the same goal,” Vandebilt Catholic senior center Leah Washington said. “And that goal is to win – to go all the way. A lot of people doubted us, but we know through adversity, we can overcome.”
For the Lady Terriers, there was very little adversity to deal with on this particular night.
Vandebilt stormed out of the locker room on fire, sizzling in the earliest minutes of the game to take control and a double digit first quarter lead.
The inside combination of Washington and junior D’Arcy Draper combined with the steady guard play of junior Shakira Harding overwhelmed Neville’s physical style.
“The beginning, we were playing like it was college,” Draper said with a smile. “We were just going so fast. We wanted to get this win so bad for our seniors and for our juniors and just for everybody on our team. That was some of the best basketball that we’ve played all season – the way we played right at the beginning to set the tempo for the rest of the game.”
“We were very excited,” Washington added. “Our adrenaline was pumping. We just wanted to start early – to put it on them early. We wanted to knock them out pretty early so we didn’t let them think that they had a chance to catch up to us. We didn’t want to give them any hope.”
Following the opening quarter outburst, Vandebilt fell into a bit of a mid-game lull and maintained a 12-17 point lead for the vast majority of the second and third quarters.
Draper and Washington said the team got complacent with their lead – the only negative part of Thursday’s win.
“We got off to just such a good start that we thought that we had them beat,” Draper said. “We can’t let them do that. Once we got to the end, we realized it was time to get back to business and get ourselves into the third round.”
Luke agreed with Draper, but credited Neville with implementing a few strategic things into their game plan that helped to slow down the Lady Terriers.
“They did a real good job. They took us out of our game a little bit,” Luke said. “They had us well scouted. They played a 1-2-2 halfcourt trap and they knew that we liked to put a big kid in the middle and they denied the wings. That put a little bit of pressure on our bigs to make some decisions. We made that adjustment at halftime and put a guard in the middle and that helped us out tremendously.”
With the adjustment made, Vandebilt took control of the game in the fourth quarter, using a scoring spurt to go ahead by more than 20 points and punch its ticket into the quarters.
“We really buckled down,” Washington said. “We didn’t want to let them get close. We did what we could to end it right there so we could move on and have another game.”
To get to the Top 28, Vandebilt had to attempt to conquer a familiar foe – No. 7 McDonogh 35.
That game was played Monday night in Houma with a score unavailable at press time.
The Lady Terriers beat the Lady Roneagles twice this season, both in decisive fashion.
But Luke said McDonogh 35 was missing a key player in one of the victories, adding that the Roneagles were playing their best basketball of the season.
The coach said Vandebilt will have to match that strong play with a little of their own if they hope to once again cut down the nets and play in the state semifinals.
“We’ve got to play well to advance,” Luke said. “If you don’t play well, you go home. Everybody’s good now. There’s eight teams left. Everybody’s good. This is what I live for.”
Elsewhere in the Tri-parishes
With Vandebilt paving its way into the Elite 8, another local state power comfortably did the same.
In Class 1A, No. 1 Central Catholic easily pushed its way into the quarterfinals, scoring an easy 73-49 road win against No. 17 Merryville.
The Lady Eagles improved to 23-3 with the win and have now won nine of their past 10 games with their lone loss in that stretch coming in a Jan. 31 setback against Vandebilt.
With the win, Central Catholic took on No. 8 West St. John in the quarterfinals.
That game was played Monday night with a score unavailable at press time.
Vandebilt Catholic forward D’Arcy Draper makes a move to the basket during a recent game.
