Tom Dodge
By Tom Dodge
Sports Editor
The Lady Jays exploded for 21 third quarter points as St. Edmund rallied for a 54-42 win Tuesday over Opelousas Catholic.
St. Edmund (13-11 overall, 4-1 in District 5-1A) closes the regular season at home against Mamou Friday on Senior Night.
Opelousas Catholic (16-10 overall, 3-2 in District 5-1A) opened with a 16-12 first quarter lead, aided by nine points from Briley Major.
Savannah DeVillier scored the first four points for the Lady Jays and Mary Beth Lafleur followed with three points as St. Ed’s forced a 10-10 tie.
DeVillier scored in the final minute of the quarter on a long pass from Kinsley Marcantel to lead the Lady Jays with six points in the period.
Trailing by four points to begin the second quarter, the Lady Jays kept in the game with buckets by Lafleur, Greta Miller and Rebecca Benoit.
Marcantel drilled a trey as St. Ed’s tied the game 21-21 with 5:23 left in the half.
Benoit added a bucket to give the Lady Jays their third lead of the contest.
But Lane Carter hit a three pointer and later added a free throw to help OC take a 25-23 advantage into the locker room.
The Lady Vikings scored the first four points of the third quarter on buckets by Carter and Major as OC pushed ahead, 29-23.
After a timeout, the Lady Jays responded with an 9-0 run, including a score on the lane by DeVillier and three points from Benoit.
Marcantel scored off a steal and then added a turnover layup to lift the Lady Jays to a 32-29 advantage.
The two teams exchanged buckets, but the Lady Jays were able to build on its lead with a bucket by DeVillier and two treys by Lafleur.
Marcantel scored off a steal at the buzzer as St. Edmund took a 44-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Jays pushed ahead, 48-37 on buckets by Tanzy Miller and Anna Belle Fontenot.
After a three-pointer by Major for OC, the Lady Jays sealed the 54-42 win with a 6-2 run including buckets by Fontenot, Lafleur and Tanzy Miller.
Lafleur finished with 16 points, DeVillier chipped in 10 points. while Benoit and Marcantel each added nine points.
Carter led OC with 18 points and Major finished with 17 points.
OC 68, St. Ed’s 21
Opelousas Catholic jumped out to a 35-5 halftime lead as the Vikings cruised to 68-21 win over an out-manned St. Edmund squad.
Kieran Davis scored a bucket early for the Jays, but OC responded with an 17-0 run as the Vikings took control of the contest.
Easten Coleman drilled a trey for the Jays with 1:25 left in the period but back-to-back dunks by the Vikings increased OC’s lead to 20 points.
Keon Coleman led the Vikings with 10 points in the period.
OC outscored the Jays 14-0 in the second period to put the game away, including six points each from Donovan Green and Caleb Rubin.
The Vikings opened the third period with a three-point play by Keon Coleman, but Davis answered with a drive in the labe for the Jays.
OC responded with a 9-1 surge including seven points from Donovan Green.
Easten Coleman scored a three-point play to help the Jays close the gap to 51-11 with 1:57 left in the period.
After OC’s Kevin White scored in the lane and added a free throw, Davis converted a three-point play with 13 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Vikings outscored the Jays 14-7 in the game’s final period including back-t0-back treys to begin the quarter.
Easten Coleman scored in the lane and Garrett Dubois drilled a trey to help the Blue Jays close the gap to 60-19.
William Driggs later added two free throws before OC ended the game with buckets by Cameron Levier and Markus Daugherty.
Keon Coleman led OC (18-5 overall, 4-1 in District 5-1A) with 15 points, Rubin added 14 points and Green chipped in 11 points.
Essten Coleman scored nine points to lead the Jays, while Davis contributed seven points.
St. Edmund (10-10 overall, 3-2 in District 5-1A) entertains Mamou Friday before closing the regular season with road games against University Academy of Central Louisiana and Vinton.