Tom Dodge
The Blue Jay faithful celebrated as St. Edmund grabbed a sweep over Eunice High.
The Lady Jays closed the regular season with a 56-31 over the Lady Bobcats before St. Ed’s capped the night with a 55-53 victory over the Bobcats.
The Lady Cats finish the season at 1-14 overall, while the Lady Jays (14-7) wait to see who they will face in the opening round of the playoffs.
The LHSAA is scheduled to release the brackets on Monday. The Lady Jays are presently No. 7 in the Div. IV power rankings with the top 16 teams earning playoff spots.
Eunice scored first when Madison Freeman pushed in an early layup, but St. Edmund responded with a 6-0 run sparked by consecutive buckets from Savannah DeVillier.
Freeman kept EHS in the game with four more points in the period, but a trey from Mary Beth Lafleur and a baseline bucket by DeVillier gave the Lady Jays a 11-6 advantage as the game moved to the second period.
St. Edmund went on a 14-4 run in the second frame to pull away at the break, 25-10.
Lafleur and DeVillier helped the Lady Jay offense before Freeman scored in the lane to close the margin to 21-9.
Greta Miller and DeVillier scored on put-back buckets before Freeman closed the half with a free throw.
St. Edmund began the second half with a 12-5 surge, aided by a drive in the lane by DeVillier and a trey by Lafleur.
Freeman scored four points for the Lady Cats, but SEH answered with buckets by Anna Belle Fontenot, DeVillier and Hannah Benoit.
Ryleah Gradney hit a free throw in the final minute of the third frame to help the Lady Cats close the gap to 37-15.
Lady Jay Mary Helen Miller hit a trey to begin the final period, but Freeman answered with five straight points for the Lady Cats.
Julia Zaunbrecher scored on an inbound’s play and Fontenot drilled a trey to push St. Ed’s up 45-20.
Gradney hit two free throws before the Lady Jays went on a 7-0 run including buckets by Alice Brown and Madison Comeau as well as a trey from Mary Helen Miller.
Freeman converted a three-point play, later scored on an inbound’s play and Gradney added two free throws as the Lady Cats went on a 7-1 run late in the game.
Kate Miller hit a long trey in the final minute for the Lady Jays.
Freeman closed the game with two free throws to finish with 22 points.
DeVillier led the Lady Jays with 20 points.
St. Ed’s 55, EHS 53
In a game that was a battle from start to finish, the Blue Jays ended the clash with a 55-53 win.
St. Edmund (15-12) travels to St. Joseph’s – Plaucheville on Wednesday, while Eunice High (12-8) closes the regular season on Friday at home against LaGrange.
The two teams displayed long-range skills early as Bobcat Treylon Cooper hit a trey and Henry Brown answered for the Blue Jays with a three-pointer followed by a drive in the lane,
Cooper hit his second trey of the period to help the Bobcats close to the gap to 7-6, but the Jays responded with two free throws by Easten Coleman and a three-point play from Brown.
The two teams exchanged treys to end the quarter with Kevin Thomas hitting one for the Bobcats before Luke Trahan drilled a long-range jumper for the Jays,
Trailing 15-9 as the game moved to the second period, Eunice went on a 6-2 run with four points from Shaun Hudson and a bucket by Dedric Vigers.
A put-back by Ian Dupre ad two free throws by Kieran Davis helped the Jays lead, 19-15 midway through the second quarter.
Eunice responded with an 8-0 surge with buckets by Cooper, Hudson, Vigers and Simeon Ardoin as the Bobcats grabbed a 23-19 advantage.
St. Edmund answered with a 6-0 run with four points from Coleman and a jumper by Dupre to retake the lead, 25-23.
A shot by Bobcat Terrance Shilow forced a 25-25 tie in the closing minute, but buckets by Davis and Coleman gave the Jays a 29-25 lead at the break.
The battle for control continued in the third quarter as EHS outscored St. Ed’s, 17-15.
Davis scored to open the quarter for the Jays before Hudson hit two free throws for the Bobcats.
Brown drained a trey to push St. Ed’s up 34-27, but the Bobcats responded with a 8-0 run including a three-pointer by Ardoin.
A free throw by Shilow was followed with buckets by Hudson and Cooper as the Bobcats grabbed a 35-34 lead with 3:19 left in the frame.
After a trey by Brown, the Bobcats retook the lead with a jumper by Cooper and a drive in the lane from Vigers.
St. Edmund tied the game with a second-chance shot by Davis, but Eunice responded with a trey by Shilow.
The Blue Jays closed the period with a trey by Brown and two free throws by Davis as St. Ed’s held a 44-42 advantage as the game moved to the fourth quarter.
After the Blue Jays opened the final period with a free throw by Coleman, Eunice retook the lead with two free throws from Vigers and a trey by Cooper.
A free throw by Davis closed the gap to 47-46 with 3:47 left in the contest, but the Bobcats quickly answered with buckets by Hudson and Cooper to give the Bobcats a 51-46 advantage.
A late 8-0 run in the final minutes proved to be the difference for the Blue Jays as Trahan pushed in three points and Coleman added five points to give St. Ed’s a 54-51 lead.
Cooper hit two free throws to close the gap to 54-53 with 36 seconds before a free throw by Coleman with nine seconds left sealed the game for the Jays.
Brown led St. Ed’s with 17 points, while Coleman added 15 points and Davis chipped in 11 points.
Cooper finished with 17 points for the Bobcats and Hudson followed with 12 points.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Bobcats are No. 22 in the Class 4-A power rankings, while St. Edmund is No., 14 in the Div. IV standings.
Player of the Week
St. Edmund’s Henry Brown scored 20 points in the Blue Jays’ win over Northside Christian and followed with 17 points against both Sulphur and Eunice.
For his efforts, Brown was named the Eunice News Player of the Week.
Other top performances included:
St. Ed’s Rebecca Benoit scored 19 points in the Lady Jays’ 53-41 loss to Opelousas Catholic and Savannah DeVillier scored 20 points in SEH’s win over Eunice.
Eunice’s Madison Freeman scored 14 points in the Lady Cats loss to Washington-Marion and pushed in 22 points against St. Ed’s.
Treylon Cooper scored 17 points against the Jays.