Thursday night became much more exciting in St. Charles Parish upon the release of the LHSAA playoff brackets for the girls basketball state playoffs this week.
The stars lined up for a rarity – a playoff Battle on the River rivalry showdown between Destrehan and Hahnville, the No. 8 seeded Lady Wildcats hosting the No. 25 Lady Tigers at 6 p.m. tonight.
For Hahnville, it’s a shot at redemption after the first clash between the two teams, a 68-48 Destrehan victory in Boutte. That was the second loss in what became Hahnvile’s longest losing streak of the season, a five-game skid.
But the Tigers enter the playoffs playing much better basketball, reeling off wins in their final three games of the season against Thibodaux, Central Lafourche and East St. John.
Hahnville head coach Joshua Bellaire said his players were excited when the matchup became official – the games between the teams always bring a great atmosphere with them, and it figures to be that much more amplified in a playoff game.
At the same time, Bellaire said the Tigers (13-12) recognize the challenge ahead.
“They’re a really good team,” Bellaire said. “We know we’ve got to prepare really well and we ready to play a complete game. That first matchup, I didn’t think we handled the emotions of the game, the intensity of the game, that well. That’s something we have to handle better this time around if we want to be successful.”
Over the course of the team’s late season winning streak, Hahnville has been strong rebounding the ball and the Tigers are communicating and playing good team defense, Bellaire said.
“We’re also taking care of the ball better at the offensive end,” Bellaire said.
Amani Williams, A’kjha Kenner, Demi Mitchell and Paige Friloux have led the way over that run. Against East St. John, Kenner stood tall, scoring 17 points and pulling down 15 rebounds in a 44-33 victory. It was Friloux with the double-double in a 43-9 win over Central Lafourche, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. And Mitchell’s 19 points and three steals paced the Tigers against Thibodaux in a 61-51 victory.
Bellaire said that’s a good start, but that the Tigers will need even more in round one.
“We’ll need to play a lot better than we did against them the first time,” said Bellaire. “We didn’t play our best game. Destrehan does a lot of things very well. We’ve got to control the things we can control on our end, and leave it all out there on the floor.”
Destrehan head coach Twalla Powell said the message for the Wildcats has been clear since the bracket came out – last game is not this game, and that Destrehan (19-7) must be ready for an inspired Hahnville team to take the floor.
“We know this is a well-coached team, and Coach Bellaire is going to come back with a plan and do whatever he has to do,” Powell said. “And we’re looking forward to an exciting game … we reiterated that this is the playoffs, and we’re all 0-0 now. That’s how we need to take it.”
Destrehan’s gotten closer to full strength in the frontcourt over the second half of the season, and Powell said the Wildcats need to attack the glass tonight.
“We need to own the boards,” Powell said. “At both ends of the floor, we need to outrebound them. Then, it’s about making sure we play the defense we play, like we know we can do, and force turnovers, get out and run.”
It’s what Destrehan did in the first meeting. The Wildcats played with force to start the game, holding Hahnville without a point for the first five minutes of play and without a field goal until the second quarter.
While the Wildcats did not get the bit of help they needed to secure district championship honors – Terrebonne defeated H.L. Bourgeois last week to wrap up the crown – Destrehan does enter the postseason as District 8-5A’s highest-seeded team. DHS closed the regular season with a 57-32 road win over Central Lafourche to seal that seeding, which sets up Destrehan to potentially host a round two game as well if it can defeat Hahnville.
Jaedyn Dickerson and Harmony Howard each scored 11 for Destrehan against Central. La’Jean Williams and Raja Johnson each scored seven and Daeja Cage and Grace Morris each scored six in a game that saw nine different Wildcats scored points.
“I was very pleased with how we finished the season – a true team effort (against Central Lafourche),” said Powell. “Everybody contributed offensively, but also defensively.”
Powell said the team is looking forward to a special kind of atmosphere in their home gym for this one.
“It’s going to be electric in there,” Powell said. “The community is going to show up, the student body from both sides of the river, and they’ll all be out in full force cheering.”
