Former parish athletes make headlines

A pair of Evangeline Parish college standouts made headlines recently.
Former Ville Platte girl’s basketball star Ty’Reona Doucet recently announced via social media that she is returning to Louisiana-Lafayette for another year of eligibility, while former Pine Prairie standout Isaiah Payne was named first-team all conference at LSUE.
Doucet is taking advantage of a recent NCAA ruling that made an exception for senior athletes that they would be able to return for another year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Doucet seeks to anchor the Ragin’ Cajuns through another postseason run.
The Ragin’ Cajuns went 16-8 overall and won the Sun Belt conference regular-season championship behind a school-record 13 conference wins. The school also qualified for the Women’s NIT, where it lost two games to Colorado and UT-Martin.
Doucet was a crucial part of the Cajuns’ success. She started 19 games, was second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game and pulled down a team-leading 8.1 rebounds per game while shooting 52 percent from the field.
Meanwhile, Payne had a breakout year for the Bengals. The sophomore paired with fellow guard Jonathan Cisse to form an impactful 1-2 punch for LSUE.
In his first full season as a starter, Payne averaged 17.9 points per game for the Bengals. His season highlight was a game-winning buzzer-beater to beat Delgado on Feb. 27.