Home improvement

Ville Platte boys, girls upgraded against Notre Dame
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VILLE PLATTE -- Heading into Friday night’s home contests against the Notre Dame Pioneers and Lady Pioneers, the Ville Platte Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs were hoping to improve, just not in the same way.
For the Lady Bulldogs, their progress rested on if they could play better than they did against the Lady Pioneers Monday night in a 64-29 loss on the road.
When the final buzzer sounded, Ville Platte had done just that, despite falling to Notre Dame once again, 46-28. With the loss, the Lady Bulldogs drop to 6-14 on the season and 1-6 in district play.
The Bulldogs, on the other hand, sought to enhance their position in the Class 2A playoff picture. Coming into the game, Ville Platte rested at the No. 17 spot in the power ranking, just one place away from being able to host a first round game.
The Bulldogs gave themselves a chance to do just that, as they held off a feisty Pioneer club for a 66-50 win. With the victory, Ville Platte improves to 14-11 on the year and 5-2 in league play.
Both teams will travel to Welsh on Friday to close out district competition.
In the girl’s game, the Lady Pioneers decided to come out with a little different defensive game plan than they did on Monday night. That game plan included playing a box-and-one on the Lady Bulldogs’ leading scorer Jakiah Thomas. And, it worked.
Thomas was unable to get going the entire game and wound up with only three points. With the leading scorer being silenced all night long, the rest of the team was called on to pick up the slack.
However, neither team could find any type of offense in the first quarter. A three-point basket from La’ Jaia Leday and a two-point bucket from Makayla Ardoin was all that Ville Platte could muster in terms of points in the first quarter. But, Notre Dame was no better, only picking up a total of six points themselves.
The offensive production picked up in the second quarter. After an opening basket from the Lady Pioneers to start the second quarter, Ville Platte tied the game at 8-8 on a three-point shot from Trinity Leday.
The two teams exchanged buckets on the next two possessions, before Notre Dame began to utilize their height advantage on the inside to break away from the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Pioneers closed out the final 4:24 of the half going on a 15-0 run to take a 25-10 lead into halftime.
Even though Ville Platte found themselves in a hole to begin the second half of play, their tenacity did not subside. The Lady Bulldogs fought hard throughout the third quarter, but could not put a dent in the Notre Dame advantage.
By the time the third quarter came to a close, the Lady Pioneers had increased their advantage to 18, 40-22.
From that point on, it was a matter of maintaining the lead for Notre Dame. Once again, despite the valiant effort by Ville Platte, the margin remained for the rest of the game.
Leday led all Lady Bulldogs with 11 points.
Putting up points was not an issue to start the boy’s contest. Ville Platte’s Terrian Roy knocked down a three-point basket just 10 seconds into the game. Notre Dame quickly responded