VPHS overwhelms PPHS in district play

By News Staff on Thursday, February 2, 2023
  • Ville Platte’s Destiny Lavigne attempts a shot while being defended during the Lady Bulldogs’ 44-9 blowout win on Tuesday night. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)
    Ville Platte’s Destiny Lavigne attempts a shot while being defended during the Lady Bulldogs’ 44-9 blowout win on Tuesday night. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)
  • Pine Prairie’s De’jon Lemalle attempts to block a layup attempt by Ville Platte’s Jakahalen Slaughter in the Bulldogs’ 80-30 win on Tuesday night. Slaughter finished the game with 11 points, while Lemalle had a team-high 18 for the Panthers. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)
    Pine Prairie’s De’jon Lemalle attempts to block a layup attempt by Ville Platte’s Jakahalen Slaughter in the Bulldogs’ 80-30 win on Tuesday night. Slaughter finished the game with 11 points, while Lemalle had a team-high 18 for the Panthers. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)
    By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor PINE PRAIRIE – With district well under way in both boys and girls basketball, it’s the time of the year where wins tend to carry a little extra weight. Whether it’s in pursuit of a district championship or an improved playoff seeding, they just mean more this time of the year. That message must’ve gotten through to both of Ville Platte’s basketball teams on Tuesday night, as they took the short bus drive down to Pine Prairie and handily took care of business. Both contests followed similar scripts, with Ville Platte riding big first halves to cruise to easy wins. Girls Ville Platte 44, Pine Prairie 9 A fairly pedestrian first quarter for the Lady Bulldogs completely flipped in the second, with Ville Platte hanging 27 points and shutting out the Lady Panthers on their way to a 39-1 halftime lead. A bit of a slow start hampered Ville Platte despite Vandryua Wilson and Destiny Lavigne each scoring four points to lead the Lady Bulldogs in the opening quarter. Ville Platte raced out to a 12-0 lead before a free throw broke the shutout for the Lady Panthers. Ville Platte seemed to live at the foul line in the second quarter, scoring six points from the charity stripe in the second period alone for its 38-point halftime lead. With the game well in-hand by the break, a running clock allowed the Lady Bulldogs to get younger players some valuable experience in the second half. Wilson led the game with 11 points, while Lavigne added seven points to lead their team. The Lady Bulldogs will return to action tomorrow night on the road against Mamou. Boys Ville Platte 80, Pine Prairie 30 Despite the best effort of Pine Prairie’s De’jon Lemalle, the Panthers struggled keeping up with the Bulldogs from the opening tip-off. Lemalle scored a game-high 18 points and proved himself as one of the parish’s better players, but the Bulldogs put up 25 points in each quarter of the first half to take a 35-point lead into the break. Ville Platte opened the game on an 8-0 run and didn’t look back, holding an 18-point advantage by the end of the opening frame. Latravian Thomas scored seven of his 12 points in the first to lead the Bulldogs. Thomas was one of three Bulldogs to score in double-figures, joined by Jamarre Byers’ team-high 15 and Montavis Seraille 14 points. Sage Papillion added nine points. The Bulldogs didn’t let up out of the locker room, scoring 19 points in the final quarter. Byers put up six of his points in the final quarter.