OAKDALE- Both Sacred Heart basketball teams made the 35-minute trek down La. Hwy 10 across Bayou Nezpique in early season contests and limped out of Durham Hall on the campus of Oakdale High as the Lady Trojans (2-5) fell 43-38 and the Trojans (2-7) fell 82-68 in back-and-forth affairs.
“This is my first year, and we’re only five or six games in,” said Lady Trojans’ coach Josh Harper. “They’re basically learning me as a coach, and I’m learning what they can do as players. We just got to get better at finishing. We have to clean up the turnovers. We have to box out and get better on the boards. I think that’s our biggest Achilles’ heel, and it’s pretty much been that in all of our losses. We just got to get better.”
Even in the loss to Oakdale, Harper still saw a lot to be excited about. He said, “The girls are playing hard, and they’re starting to see what I expect of them.”
Boys’ coach J.P. Boullion was pleased with his Trojans’ effort. “Our kids are learning on the fly how to play the right way and how to play hard the whole game while executing,” he said. “We had a lot of execution mishaps tonight, but that’s because of lack of practice time. Still, we’re not using that as an excuse.”
He continued, “Our kids, over the last couple of games, have really brought some intensity.”
The girls’ game started with Oakdale jumping out to an early 6-2 lead, Lauren Shipp cut it down to a one possession game. At the 4:36 mark, Shipp was at the free throw line with a chance to tie the game but missed both foul shots.
Lauren Holmes from Oakdale got the rebound on the second missed free throw and got a layup on the other side of the court to extend the Lady Warrior lead.
Later in the first quarter, Anna Beth Briley tied the game from the charity stripe at the 2:21 mark. The Lady Trojans then took a 10-8 lead as Olivia Hernandez scored second chance points. Sacred Heart added a pair of baskets, and the first quarter ended with the road team enjoying a 14-8 advantage.
Oakdale began the second quarter on a run and KeMaesha St. Andre tied the game at 18 inside the final 3:00 of the first half. Holmes, then, swiped away an inbounds pass and gave her Lady Warriors a 20-18 lead, but Sacred Heart tied the game on the other end of the court. Blair LaFleur of Sacred Heart gave her team the 22-20 lead, and the first half ended with the same score.
Hernandez began the second half with a three-pointer from the corner of the key, and LaFleur later added a layup for the 26-20 lead as Oakdale called a timeout.
The Lady Warriors, then, went on another run and tied the game at 28 before LaFleur scored second chance points to give Sacred Heart the 30-28 lead.
The lead switched sides again in the third quarter, and Madeline Fontenot scored a wide open basket from the base line to tie the game at 33 to close out the third quarter.
After a scoreless first minute and change of the fourth quarter, St. Andre scored a layup at the 6:07 mark. She then was sent to the free throw line but was not able to convert on the three-point play. Amanda Bergeron went from there to drive down the court and tie the game at 35.
After Oakdale took a 37-35 lead on a bucket from Trenika Joseph, Hernandez drilled a three-pointer. Sacred Heart called a timeout at the 1:59 mark leading 38-37.
Joseph went on to get a rebound and gave her Lady Warriors a 39-38 lead with 1:05 remaining in the game. Holmes on the next possession extended the Oakdale lead to 41-38. Shipp cut the lead in half as Oakdale called a timeout with 20.4 seconds on the clock.
With 12.2 seconds remaining, St. Andre, who struggled from the free throw line all night, was back at the line and was true on both foul shots. “She made them when she needed to make them,” quipped Oakdale public address announced Shelton Hatsfelt.
Sacred Heart launched a last-ditch effort, but the basketball sailed wide of the net to end the game.
In the night cap, the Trojans enjoyed a lead early after Wyatt Fontenot drilled a three-pointer from the corner of the key to tie the game at 3. Tanner Bergeron, then, gave the Trojans a 5-3 lead and followed it up by stealing the basketball out of the hands of Oakdale’s Jacob Black. After the change in possession, Bergeron scored to go up 7-3.
Jack LaHaye added a basket to extend the lead to 9-4, and the score crept to 15-9 in favor of Sacred Heart on three-pointer from Bryce Deville.
Black got the three points back for Oakdale with one flick of the wrist and then picked up Nick Davis for second chance points to tie the game at 15. Nick Davis for Oakdale went on to score after getting a steal to give his Warriors the 17-15 lead.
Much like the girls’ game, the lead changed hands back-and-forth to close out the period, and Oakdale led 19-18 after the game’s first 8:00.
Sacred Heart retook the lead to begin the second quarter, but Jonathan Davis answered the score and converted on a three-point play. Leon Posey IV later got a steal and gave the ball to Black who extended the lead to 24-20 with 6:01 before the half.
From that point, Oakdale took control of the game and separated itself from Sacred Heart on the scoreboard to improve to 4-0 on the season.
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TONY MARKS Associate Editor