Lady Eagles take care of Honeybears for third time

The nets were cut down Friday night at Vermilion Catholic High School after the Lady Eagles squeaked by the Gueydan Honeybears 39-33.
The celebration is a tradition at the school that honors teams that go undefeated on their home floor during the course of the season.
After trailing at halftime, VC (20-4, 11-0) battled back and crept one win closer to finishing the season with a perfect district record.
“I told the girls it was a game we needed. We needed a game with some intensity,” said VC coach Kim Guidry. “I thought Gueydan’s gameplan was super. Gueydan has 19 wins, they know how to win. I feel fortunate we got out of that one.”
After a 3-pointer by Gueydan’s Ke’ara Charles, the Lady Eagles went on a 8-0 run, but Gueydan, refusing to back down, responded with a 8-0 spurt of their own.
Lady Eagles’ senior Ashailee Brailey scored seven points in the first quarter to give VC a 10-9 lead at the end of the quarter.
Gueydan’s defense tightened, and the Honeybears hit three 3-pointers to outscore the Lady Eagles 11-4 in the second quarter, and take a 20-14 advantage into halftime.
Out of halftime, VC went on a 10-0 run to lead 24-20 with three minutes left in the quarter, and the Lady Eagles never relinquished the lead.
Gueydan (19-8, 6-4) kept it close, and trailed 37-33 with 25 seconds left. Ashari Terry missed the frontend of a one-and-one from the free-throw line and VC grabbed the rebound and Brailey sank two free throws to seal the game.
“At halftime, I told them, ‘We are down six, and we couldn’t have possibly played worse on offense,’” Guidry said. “We have to do the little things we’ve been doing all year. We had to step up on defense and we did.”
Brailey had a game-high 23 points, with 16 of them coming in he second half. Kaylen Collins was also in double figures with 10 points.
Olivia Chiasson and Kelly White each scored three points to round out the scoring for the Lady Eagles.
Kylie Crochet scored 11 points to lead Gueydan.
Other scorers for the Honeybears were: Ke’ara Charles (7), Nya Boudreaux (5), Sheridan Guidry (5), Ashari Terry (3) and T’nia Leger (2).
After losing by an average of over 23 points in each of the previous two games the teams played, Friday’s performance was a positive step forward, according to Gueydan coach Randall Bertrand.
“We saw a lot more enthusiasm, a lot more heart and courage from the young ladies,” Bertrand said. “The first two times we played them, we weren’t in the game at all. Tonight we took it to them. We had our chances. We are going to have to use this to keep us going.”
The tough test for VC on the heels of the playoffs was something that Guidry said was much needed.
“You need a game with a high level of intensity, because you can’t manufacture that at practice,” she said. “To play 32 tough minutes was good for us.”
Gueydan will be at home Tuesday night against Hanson, and VC will close out the season on the road against Highland Baptist.