VC prepares for quarterfinals

The Vermilion Catholic Lady Eagles find themselves in a familiar place, the quarterfinals of the 1A State Championship tournament.

When they lace up the sneakers and play tonight’s game against Arcadia, it will mark the third straight year that the Lady Eagles will have played a game in the quarterfinals.

Although, as proud as they are of making the quarterfinals, they know that they still have a lot of work to do to reach their ultimate goal, back-to-back state championships.

“We are very excited to have made it this far,” Lady Eagles Head Coach Kim Guidry said. “We know that we still have a lot of work to do before we can really celebrate ,though.”

Before the Lady Eagles can make it to the Championship game, or even the semifinals, they are going to have to get past the fifth seeded Arcadia Lady Hornets.

Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tonight.

The Lady Hornets finished the regular season with a 24-5 overall record, and won their last 12 regular season games, and 16 of their last 18 games.

For Arcadia to make the quarterfinals, they defeated St. Edmunds by the lopsided score of 91-35.

The Lady Hornets second round game was only a little closer against Block, as they won 72-43.

“We are worried about their speed,” Guidry said. “They run a good transition game and can really bang you around down low. They put a lot of pressure on the ball with their 1-2-2 high zone. We know that we are going to have to be on top of our
game to beat them.”

If the Lady Eagles are on top of their game it also means that the big trio is on top of theirs as well.

The big trio consists of Ashailee Brailey, Kaylen Collins and Katie Frith.

These three are going to have to show up and perform at a high level if the Lady Eagles want to win the game against Arcadia.

In the two playoff games, Frith is averaging 20 points, Brailey is averaging 16.5 points and Collins is averaging 14 points.

Collectively the three girls are averaging 50.5 of the Lady Eagles 62.5 points, in the two playoff games thus far.

The Lady Eagles have also won the two playoff games by an average of 30.5 points.

Coach Guidry thinks that not only are her players playing well, but the home court advantage is what’s giving them the extra boost they need.

“Our fans are great,” Guidry said. “They help motivate our kids. They are the sixth man, and the kids really feed off of the crowd.”

No matter what the outcome of the game is, this will be the final Lady Eagles basketball game played at VC this season.

If the Lady Eagles are fortunate enough to win tonight’s game, they will then move on to the semifinals and play the winner of North Central and Southern Lab.

Those games will be played in Lake Charles at Burton Coliseum.

Before all of that though, the Lady Eagles have to get past Arcadia.

That game takes place tonight at the Kim “Gidge” Guidry Gymnasium on VC’s campus.

Andy Bullard
Sports Editor