Lady Pats tame Honey Bears

The first round match-up, between the North Vermilion Lady Patriots and Gueydan Honey Bears, saw two teams headed in opposite directions.

Over the course of the last four games, the Lady Patriots were 1-3, while the Honey Bears were 3-1 in that same span.

Despite the records of the two teams, this first round match-up went down to the wire, but saw the Lady Patriots victorious at the end of a furious run by the Honey Bears, 34-30.

“We played well defensively,” North Vermilion Head Coach Phillip Freeman said. “We were able to make them take the shots that we wanted them to take. Along with that we were able to get good pressure on the ball.”

The first quarter was a defensive battle. The Lady Patriots went on a 5-0 run at the beginning of the first quarter, but thanks in part to two free throws by Ashari Terry, and a three pointer at the end of the first by Kylie Crochet,
the score was dead locked at 5-5.

The second quarter is where the Lady Patriots found their offense.

The third quarter started out a bit sluggish, with both teams’ first few possessions netting zero points

Then a big three by North Vermilion’s Lanie Breaux opened the offensive scoring for both teams.

Following the Breaux three pointer, Terry hit a three of her own to keep the game tied at eight.

That is when the Lady Patriots and more, especially Breaux, took over.

A combination of Breaux and Simone Pillette scored the next 10 points for the Lady Pats to make the score 18-8, with only a few minutes left in the first half.

Ke’ara Charles was able to put up four points in the second quarter to help the Honey Bears close the gap to 20-14, at half time.

The third quarter saw the defense for both teams step back up.

Both teams were only able to score six points apiece in the third.

Pillette scored four of the six points for the Lady Pats.

Charles also scored four of the Honey Bears six points.

The Lady Patriots had a slight six point advantage entering the fourth quarter.

Catherine Touchet made an early layup in the fourth quarter to give the Lady Patriots an eight point advantage.

North Vermilion still had the eight point advantage with two and a half minutes left in the game.

At that point Nya Boudreaux made a three pointer to close the gap for the Honey Bears down to five.

After a turnover by the Lady Patriots, Sheridan Guidry hit a 15 foot jumper to close the deficit to only three for the Honey Bears.

T’nia Leger scored her only two points of the game in the fourth to close the gap to 28-27 with one minute left in the game.

After another turnover by the Lady Patriots, Charles was fouled in the process of shooting, and made one of the two free throws to tie the game at 28-28.

The missed rebound was rebounded by Chelseas Theriot and then passed to Lunden Graham, who went coast to coast to give the Lady Patriots a 30-28, advantage.

Right after the Graham layup, Boudreaux made a 10 foot jump shot to tie the game at 30-30.

That was the last time the Honey Bears would score.

Pillette and Touchet would score the next four points for the Lady Patriots to give them the 34-30 win.

“We got off to a slow start,” Gueydan Head Coach Randall Bertrand. “If we could have played the entire game the same way we played the last three minutes, I feel we would have won this game.”

Coach Bertrand went on to say that his team is a very streaky team.

“If we can’t score, then we just can’t score,” Bertand said. “On the other side of that, though, if we are on we can score in bunches. It’s just a matter of trying to be on more than we are off.”

Coach Freeman was excited about the way his team played down the stretch.

“I think we played pretty well down the stretch,” Freeman said. “We held off a team that was streaking, and we showed that we are tough enough to withstand that and still pull out the win.”

Pillette led the way in scoring for the Lady Patriots, with 10. Lanie Breaux and Catherine Touchet each added nine. All of Breaux’s points came in the second quarter.

Lunden Graham and Hannah Dardar round out the scoring, with four and two respectively.

Ashari Terry and Ke’ara Charles led the Honey Bears in scoring with nine apiece.

Nya Boudreaux added five of her own.

Kylie Crochet added three, and Sheridan Guidry and T’nia Leger each added two apiece.

Andy Bullard
Sports Editor