Double-OT magic in Mamou

By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor MAMOU – Things rarely go according to plan over the course of any sort of competition. Teams see adversity and challenges. The response is ultimately more important than the hardship. The Mamou Lady Demons saw more than their fair share of hardship in Tuesday night’s non-district basketball matchup. It even took them longer than they expected it to. It took two overtimes, but Kaydance Young hit a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to lift Mamou to a 38-35 win. Mamou’s red-hot first quarter gave way to what amounted to struggles all through the rest of the game. It didn’t matter as Mamou overcame unforced turnovers, missed shots and a Westminster team that wouldn’t go away to get the win It didn’t look like it was going that way after the opening quarter, when the Lady Demons raced out to a 16-4 lead behind good shooting from beyond the arc. Young, Maddie Fontenot and Carlee Berzas knocked down a total of four threes between them. Mamou scored the game’s first 11 points in a first quarter that made the game seem like it would be a Mamou runaway win. The good times didn’t last, as Mamou scored only 22 points across the next 32 minutes of game time. Most of those remaining points came in the second quarter. But, Westminster found its stride in the second quarter as well and scored 23 points in the frame. The Lady Crusaders opened the second on a 7-1 run to close the gap to 19-11 and by halftime had closed the gap to 28-27. A fast-paced first half gave way to a second half crawl. Both Westminster and Mamou struggled all through the second half offensively. Westminster outscored Mamou 5-4 in the third quarter to tie the game after the third period. Neither team scored in the final period as it gave way to overtime, where Young’s shot that went up with 1.1 seconds remaining and dropped through as time expired provided the difference. As for the boys’ team, one thing is clear as the season wears on – the Green Demons will go as senior Tyron Broussard goes. That was especially evident Tuesday night. Westminster fought back after having a slow first half. But the Green Demons survived as Mamou rode Broussard’s game-high 22 points to outlast Westminster Christian 54-48 on Tuesday night. Broussard was the catalyst as Mamou raced out to a 16-point first half lead. He scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half as Mamou led 34-18 at the break. It started from the opening tip, as Broussard scored nine of his team’s 16 points in the opening quarter as the Green Demons raced out to an seven-point lead. Mamou was even better in the second quarter, scoring 18 points and again holding Westminster to single digits as they appeared destined for a blowout similar to the previous girls’ game. Something changed after halftime. Whatever was said in Westminster’s locker room made a difference as the Crusaders put up a 24-point third quarter and cut the Mamou lead to two points heading into the final period. The Crusaders let Broussard get his in the third quarter as he scored seven points in the frame, but shut out every other player in Mamou’s lineup outside of Shay Collins who put up three in the frame. Mamou adjusted to Westminster’s attack and limited them in a big way during the final frame as the Crusaders put up only seven points and the Green Demons pulled away late in the contest. Outside of Broussard, Mamou was led by Tylon Quincy and Dezmond Skinner who scored eight and seven points respectively.