Unable to defend

VILLE PLATTE -- Even though the Sacred Heart Trojans and Lady Trojans put up a great defense oN their home territory, the Opelousas Catholic Vikings and Lady Vikings raided the Halls of Troy and came away with two wins here Tuesday night.
In the opening contest, the almost perfect dream play in the first half turned into a nightmare for the Lady Trojans, as they blew a 10 point halftime lead to lose 42-34 in overtime. With the loss, Sacred Heart now sits at 4-13 on the year and 1-2 in district play.
The later game saw Opelousas Catholic dominate play from the start, as they took down the Trojans 73-31. Sacred Heart falls to 5-14 on the year and 1-2 in league competition.
Both the Trojans and the Lady Trojans will travel to New Roads to take on False River tomorrow night.
Everything started right for Sacred Heart in the girl’s contest. The Lady Trojans came out with attitude on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, taking a 6-1 lead after the first 2:21 of the game.
Opelousas Catholic responded with five points in the next two possessions, but the Lady Trojans countered that with two baskets of their own. By the time the horn had sounded to end the opening period, Sacred Heart owned a 10-6 lead.
Taking it to the rim to begin the second quarter, the Lady Trojans’ Anna Claire Parrott scored the first four points of the period to improve the Sacred Heart advantage to eight points. The Lady Vikings added a free throw to make it a 14-7 game, however the Lady Trojans continued to find fast break opportunities and open set shots to go up 18-7 with 3:16 left in the quarter.
By the time the half had come to a close, Sacred Heart held a 20-8 lead and all the momentum.
Coming out of the locker room, the Lady Trojans looked to continue the assertive performance shown in the first two quarters. Unfortunately, the tide began to turn in Opelousas Catholic’s favor.
Over the course of the first two minutes of the third period, the Lady Vikings cut the Sacred Heart lead down to seven, 22-15. That trend stayed the course until the 2:08 mark when an Opelousas Catholic three-point basket found the bottom of the net to tie the game up at 24-24.
Over the final minutes of the period, the two teams managed each pick up a bucket to make it a 26-26 game heading into the final quarter.
The Lady Vikings decided to go into stall mode for the first 2:47 seconds of the fourth quarter, holding the ball at half court as they waited for the Lady Trojans to come out and pick them up. Sacred Heart sat back in their zone defense and allowed the clock to run, forcing Opelousas Catholic to get back into action.
When the action did continue, the Lady Vikings scored first to go up by two points. The Lady Trojans tied the game at 28-28 on a bucket from Olivia Hernandez. The teams finished regulation play with a basket apiece to make it a 30-30 game and send the contest into overtime.
In the extra period, Opelousas Catholic wasted no time in taking over the game. Before Sacred Heart knew what hit them, the Lady Vikings owned a 37-30 lead.
With the momentum squarely in Opelousas Catholic’s court, the Lady Vikings were able to finish out the game for the win.
Lauren Shipp led the way for the Lady Trojans with 11 points, while Hernandez added 10 points.
Athleticism and quickness ruled the day for Opelousas Catholic in the boy’s contest. From the jump ball, the Vikings’ defensive pressure were just too much for Sacred Heart to handle, as they were able to quickly move out to an 11-2 lead with only 2:28 gone in the period.
The Trojans did gather themselves over the next five minutes, adding eight more points to their total. Never-the-less, Opelousas Catholic matched that total and more, as they held a 25-10 lead at the end of the period.
It was much of the same in the second quarter. With easy lay-ups coming off of Trojan turnovers, the Vikings increased their advantage to 27 points, 47-20, as the teams headed into the locker room.
Over the next two periods, Opelousas Catholic out scored Sacred Heart 26-11 to cruise to the win.
Wyatt Fontenot led the Trojans with 12 points.