Lady Eagles continue to roll, while Eagles falter

LAFAYETTE - Both Vermilion head coach Rock Charpentier and his counterpart, Lafayette Christian Academy head coach Byron Starks had an idea of what to expect when their teams squared off at Lafayette Christian on January 31.

Both were right.

With the Knights connecting on 8 3-pointers, they built a 54-19 halftime lead and cruised to a 101-47 victory.

Sophomore Jacob Ledoux led all scorers with 29 points and 4 3’s and senior Jacob Broussard had 22 points.

Senior Jordan Parker contributed 12 points while his teammate, sophomore Michael Harden chipped in 9, with two 3’s for Lafayette Christian (19-3, 7-0).

The Eagles were led by Brennan Gallet’s 14 points, which included his team’s only 3-pointer.

Shay Laporte had 12 points, William Noegel added seven and Drake Broussard contributed 6 for Vermilion Catholic (5-12, 2-4).

This was the second time the teams played with the Knights capturing a 74-41 victory earlier.

“We did play them before, and we do have a little more depth than them,” said Starks.

“Anytime you play (Vermilion Catholic) you can expect them to play a tough, physical competitive game and they did tonight.”

The tone was set early with the Knights racing to an early 18-2 lead which included three 3’s.

That would be a recurring them the whole night as Lafayette Christian was not afraid to shoot over the Eagles’ zone defense.

Charpentier noted that playing a team like Lafayette Christian gave him little options.

“Lafayette Christian Academy is a very good basketball team with about 13 or 14 very good players,” he said. “We played zone most of the game, but did play man to man a little bit. The problem with that (playing man to man) is you create mismatches against
a team like that.”

He did see some positives though for his Eagles though.

“We had our chances,” he said. “We ran our offense OK and got some good looks; we just didn’t make them. The object is to put the basketball in the hole. They did and we did not.”

While the end result was not what Charpentier wanted, the effort was.

“All I ask is for them to play hard, and they never quit,” he said. “They are used to winning and

They are not quitters. They played hard all night.”

In the girl’s game, the Lady Eagles came away with a 50-16 victory over the Knights. Katie Frith and Ashaille Brailey each had 12 points for Vermilion Catholic while Leah Camel added 6.

Lexie Langlinais and Kelly While each had 4 for the Lady Eagles.

Asia Robinson was the Lady Knight’s top scorer with 8.

The Lady Eagles record is now up to 23-3 overall and 8-1 in district play.

The Lady Eagles also sit in the third spot in the most recent power ranking poll.

Next up on the schedule for the Lady Eagles is a rematch against the number one team in the power rakings, and the only team to beat VC in district play, Central Catholic.

That game will be held Tuesday night in the Kim “Gidge” Gymnasium at Vermilion Catholic.

Bill Levy
Sports Correspondent