Lady Eagles struggle early, pull away to advance

The No. 2 seeded Vermilion Catholic Lady Eagles struggled early, put away No. 31 Logansport High School in the second half en route to a 53-36 win Thursday night in the bi-district round of the Class 1A playoffs.
VCHS (22-4) had a tough time in the opening half of the game with Logansport’s scrappy style of play, and it forced the Lady Eagles to play differently from what they would have liked, and their shots were not falling as well.
“I thought we had the jitters in the first half and we couldn’t possibly shoot any worse,” said Vermilion Catholic head coach Kim Guidry. “I told them that the most important stretch was the first three minutes of the third quarter. That would dictate how the rest of the game went. We had to have a great third quarter and we went out and scored 21 points.”
The two ballclubs could not hit shots with each trading misses for the first two minutes until the Lady Tigers got on the board first with a basket by Elizabeth Griffin.
The Lady Eagles responded with a 8-0 run to take the lead and they never gave it up.
Vermilion Catholic led 10-6 at the end of the first quarter with all of their points coming from their all-star senior duo of Kaylen Collins and Ashailee Brailey.
The two collaborated for 19 of the team’s 21 first half points, as they went into the halftime break with a 21-9 advantage.
VC came out hot after the halftime break with a 11-2 run to go up 32-11 midway through the third to essentially end the Lady Tigers’ season. Vermilion Catholic led by as many as 25 in the game.
Brailey scored 23 and Collins followed closely with 19 to lead the Lady Eagles. Other VC scorers were: Leah Camel (4), Kelly White (4) and Lexi Langlinais (2).
Jasmine White led Logansport with 17, followed by Calia Wilson with 11.
“They came through,” Guidry said of her dynamic duo. “Ashailee hit a few key shots and Kaylen was a force inside with her scoring and rebounding, which limited them (Logansport) to only one shot.”
The Lady Eagles will be on the road in the regional round when they play No. 18 Plain Dealing after they defeated No. 15 Ouachita Christian 52-31 Thursday.
Looking ahead, Guidry said their is one thing that her team will focus on in the coming days in preparation for round two.
“We need to improve our shooting,” she said with a smile. “I’m sure the next three days we’ll be shooting a lot to gain confidence. They have to know that when they step on the floor, the ball has to go in the hole.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Plain Dealing High School.