Hurricanes sweep Jays

North Central moved another step closer to another pair of district titles with a sweep over St. Edmund.

The Lady Hurricanes (20-5, 4-0) rolled to a 74-41 win, while the Hurricanes cruised to a 66-24 victory.

The Lady Jays battled to an early 6-6 tie, sparked by baskets from Allison Lafleur along with a jumper by Camille Leger and a put-back by Abby Miller.

North Central responded with a 10-0 run before Maggie Larriviere scored underneath for the Lady Jays.

Latrachani Tyler scored  late for her third bucket of the period as North Central took an 18-8 advantage into the second quarter.

The Lady Canes extended its lead to 24-8 before St. Ed’s Leger scored on a jumper.

Gabby Fontenot later drained a trey  and Lafleur scored in the lane to close the  gap to 28-16.

Miller and Lafleur chipped in buckets as the Lady Jays fought to stay in the game, trailing 32-19.

Larriviere pushed in a free throw and  Leger scored on a second-chance shot to pull the Lady Jays closer, 36-22.

North Central end the half with a 5-0 run including a late trey by Diamond Nevills to give the Lady Canes a 41-22 advatage at the break.

North Central broke the game open with an 11-2 run to begin the third period, slowed by two free throws from Leger.

Fontenot hit a trey for the Lady Jays, but North Central responded with a 9-0 run including three pointers from Quanigun Joseph and Zyranesha Eaglin.

After being outscored 21-5 in the third period, St. Edmund responded to win a 14-12 battle in the final period.

Leger scored underneath, Fontenot hit a trey and Larriviere added a free throw as the Lady Jays went on a 6-2 run.

After North Central’s Derynesha Tezeno scored on an inbound’s pass, Fontenot hit her fourth trey of the game to close the gap to 65-36.

Larriviere hit two free throws and later added a jumper for the Lady Jays.

Leger hit a free throw with 1:51 remaining before North Central closed the game with a 6-0 run including a trey by YaJaia Godeau.

Leger led St. Edmund with 13 points, while Fontenot added 12 points.

Tyler led the Lady Canes with 22 points, while Joseph chipped in 14 points.

St. Edmund (7-14, 3-2) travels to Basile (8-14, 1-3)  6 p.m. Monday as district action continues.

NCHS 86, St. Ed’s 24

North Central opened with a 9-0 run and never looked back as the Hurricanes (16-9, 4-0) earned a 86-24 win over the Blue Jays.

Stephan Thibodeaux hit a two jumpers and Austin Gradney drilled a trey to help the Jays close the margin to 13-7.

Thibodeaux scored from the baseline but the Canes answered with a 7-0 run with treys from Robert Hegee and Vondrick Jimmerson.

Gradney then hit his second trey of the period before Hegee drove the lane to push North Central’s lead to 26-12 heading into the second period.

The Hurricanes went on a 10-0 run to begin the next frame before Gradney hit a free throw and Christian Fontenot scored in the lane to close the gap to 36-15.

North Central finished the half with buckets by Reginald Stoner, Derrick Tezeno and Jimmerson to push the Canes’ lead to 41-14 at intermission.

The Hurricanes blew the game open with a 30-7 third quarter surge, begun with a 9-0 run sparked by five points from Stoner.

St. Ed’s Alex Dupre hit two free throws before Stoner converted a three-point play for the Canes.

Phillip Thibodeaux hit a jumper at the 4:41 mark for the Jays, but North Central responded with a 8-0 run to push its lead to 62-19.

St. Edmund later added a free throw by Dupre and a bucket from Tyler Fonville but the Canes again responded with a 8-0 run to close the third period.

Already with a 72-22 advantage, North Central  finished the game with a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter.

The Hurricanes had buckets from Dymantae Nevills, James Vaughn, Juwan Milburn and Joseph Guillory as well as six free throws.

Fontenot hit two free throws with four seconds left as the Jays avoided being shut out in the period.

Gradney led St. Edmund with seven points, while Thibodeaux added six points.

North Central had five players in double figures including Nikembe Johnson (18 points), Hegger (17 points), Stoner (13 points),  Tezeno (12 points) and Jimmerson (11 points).

St. Edmund (2-19, 0-5) travels to district rival Basile (7-16, 1-2) Monday.