Hahnville cruises past East Ascension, handles East St. John

January 20, 2011 at 10:56 am  | Mobile Reader | Print 

Thelezia Folse

Hahnville guard Shante Evans drives to the basket. Evans scored 9 points against East Ascension and 9 points against East St. John.

Hahnville (12-9, 3-0) jumped out to a big 15-6 first quarter lead over East Ascension Tuesday night, and though they gave up some ground in the second quarter, the Lady Tigers came up big in the second half.

By outscoring East Ascension 17-8 in the final period, the girls put the finishing touches on a 50-37 victory, which was their second district win on the road.

“This is one of the best half court defensive teams we’ve ever had at Hahnville, especially in man-to-man” head coach Kevin Robicheaux said. “We got a 20 point lead in the second half and we kind of coasted from there.”

The Lady Tigers got the win despite having to leave starting forward Rickell Preston at home due to sickness.

“Because she was out, it did take some time to find our groove,” Robicheaux said. “Rickell is a great player and is hard to replace, but in the second half the team realized we had five girls on the court.”

Junior Kaelynn Boyd led the Lady Tigers to the win by scoring 25 points. Shante Evans had 9 points, Sydney Marshall finished with 7 points and Rea Fields chipped in with 5 points.

Myraneisha Williams added 4 points.

Hahnville was also impressive last Friday against East St. John, stifling the Lady Cats defensively in a 44-38 win. Boyd poured in 15 points in the victory, while  Evans and Fields both had 9 points. Though Hahnville played well on offense, Robicheaux was especially proud of how his squad performed on defense.

"I felt like East St. John had two really good guards, and they have three players that can really shoot and drive to the basket," he said. "Our goal was to keep them out of the paint, and we had some success with that for the most part."

The Lady Tigers led by only three points after the half, but Robicheaux credits a 14-4 run by his squad in the third quarter for pushing his team to the victory.

"In the fourth quarter, we tried to control the game and East St. John did make up some ground, but we were able to hold on for the win," Robicheaux said. "It's really important for us to stay at the top of district."

Up next for the Lady Tigers is their rivalry game with Destrehan this Friday at 6 p.m. at Hahnville. The Lady Cats have also picked up some big district wins this season and Robicheaux said his team will once again have to step up on defense.

"In order to beat Destrehan we are going to have to defend well because they are good shooters from the outside," he said. "The biggest thing though is that Destrehan is going to have to withstand our pressure. The key for us is to play smart on defense and play the up-tempo style that we like to play."

Robicheaux said the stands will fill up quickly on Friday, so fans need to arrive early.

“Tickets aren’t going to last long,” he added. “Put on your purple and gold and come support us.”