Polite losses

VILLE PLATTE -- In a very polite way, the Crowley High Ladies and Gents utilized size and speed to take down the Sacred Heart Trojans and Lady Trojans here Tuesday night in a non-district doubleheader.
For the Lady Trojans, a difficult night from the floor and a distinct size advantage led to their 32-24 defeat at the hand of the Ladies. With the loss, Sacred Heart falls to 2-10 on the season.
The game actually started slow for both clubs, with the first points of the contest not coming until Sacred Heart’s Shani Fontenot hit a three pointer with 3:07 left to go in the initial quarter.
Crowley responded with a quick basket and two free throws two minutes later to take a 4-3 lead. The Lady Trojans closed out the scoring in the period when Dulce Miller knocked down a bucket and was fouled. Miller hit the free throw to give Sacred Heart a 6-4 lead going into the second quarter.
“Offensively we are still in the transition of trying to make adjustments,” said Sacred Heart head coach Megan Granger. “We haven’t figured things out fully. But, they work hard every day I cannot ask more from them.”
The offensive pace quickened in the second quarter. The Ladies sprinted out to a 12-6 at the 4:34 mark of the period. The Lady Trojans rebounded with four made free throws in a row from Lauren Shipp and another three-pointer from Fontenot.
Crowley ended the quarter with a two-point basket with only three seconds left to go in the first half and took a 17-13 lead into the locker room.
The third quarter was similar to the first quarter, as neither team could produce much offense. The Ladies out paced the Lady Trojans 8-3 to extend their lead to 25-16 as the period closed out.
Sacred Heart tried to make a comeback in the final quarter. But, every time the Lady Trojans would get things going Crowley was there to respond.
Shipp led all Sacred Heart scorers with eight points, while Miller chipped in seven.
In the nightcap, the Trojans fell behind quickly and just could not recover, as Sacred Heart fell to Crowley 76-56. With the loss, the Trojans are now 1-10 on the year.
Sacred Heart could not defend the speed of the Crowley transition game in the first quarter and trailed 13-2 with 5:34 left in the period. By the time the quarter had come to a close, the Trojans found themselves down by 20 points, 30-10.
“They have a really good transition game and they came out scoring,” said Sacred Heart head coach Chris Rider. “We are getting better everyday. We just need to continue working on our defensive game and our shooting percentage. But, these guys never quit.”
It was much of the same in the second quarter, as the Gents were able to extend the advantage to 30 points, 54-24, before the half finished.
Sacred Heart came out of the locker room in the third quarter with some momentum. The Trojans dominated the scoring, 14-5, to cut the Crowley lead to 59-38.
However, Sacred Heart could never get enough going offensively to make a significant dent in the Gent’s advantage throughout the fourth quarter.
Jeffery Sylvester led the Trojans with 19.