Hahnville arrived at Destrehan for the playoff game between the rivals Thursday night with intentions of turning the tables from their regular season meeting last month – and indeed, the Lady Tigers ramped things up and gave the rival Ladycats a run for their money.
But in the end, Destrehan wouldn’t be denied. After leading by two at halftime, the Wildcats pulled away in the second half to secure a 46-32 opening round victory and a ticket to round two.
Jaedyn Dickerson’s 19 points – including seven of her team’s nine points in a closeout fourth quarter – led the way for Destrehan (21-7). La’Jean Williams added nine and Harmony Howard seven.
“In order to change the energy, we needed to press,” said Destrehan head coach Twalla Powell. “We got more active on defense, and made sure we rebounded the ball well. We needed to speed them up and force some mistakes, and once you make that happen, turnovers turn into easy buckets.”
Powell said once the fourth quarter began, she had a message for Dickerson, her point guard: assert yourself.
“We knew they were going to deny (Howard) the ball. So, my assignment for Jaedyn was – it’s your turn. She fulfilled her assignment. She hit the open shots – she had the green light,” Powell said.
Dickerson said she and her teammates knew it was time to make their push.
“We knew we had to finish out – we want to go on to the next round,” Dickerson said. “We turned the game with our defense … stay calm, don’t play tight, we just need to do what we know how to do.”
For Hahnville (13-13), Demi Mitchell scored nine, Paige Friloux eight and Amani Williams seven to pace the Tigers.
Destrehan, the No. 8 seed in Division I non-select, will host No. 9 Natchitoches Central Monday night at 6 p.m. Natchitoches advanced with a 52-49 victory over No. 24 Airline.
The 25th seeded Tigers entered the playoffs on a three-game winning streak and knew it would need to match Destrehan’s defensive intensity if an upset would be in the cards. It wasn’t the case in Destrehan’s 68-48 win at Hahnville on Jan. 23, but it certainly was on Thursday as the Tigers limited Destrehan’s opportunities to get out and run and forced tough shots throughout the first half of the rematch.
Destrehan led 12-10 after a quarter and seemed to be asserting control early in the second quarter. The Wildcats got back-to-back baskets from Howard, then Dickerson’s steal and score pushed Destrehan ahead 18-10.
A’kjha Kenner started a Hahnville answer with a free throw, then a corner 3 by Mitchell made it 18-14. Hahnville would tie the game on a Friloux score inside before Dickerson pushed Destrehan ahead with a basket before halftime. DHS led 20-18 at the break.
That was a far cry from the first game between the teams, one that saw DHS all but put away the Tigers in the first half.
Still, the Wildcats kept their composure.
“We’ve been a strong finishing team this year,” said Powell. “We’re confident in that aspect.”
Howard opened the second half with a 3 for the Wildcats to push the lead to five. Mitchell sank two free throws, but Destrehan’s defense began to dig in from there. A La’Jean Williams’ 3 gave Destrehan a 27-20 lead. Dickerson scored on a layup, then on a drive to make it a 31-20 game. La’Jean Williams sank two free throws and the Wildcats’ defense got its press going defensively, speeding up the action.
The lead ballooned to 15 before five quick Hahnville points, including an Amani Williams layup in transition that cut it to 10. That’s where things settled until Dickerson began to take over in the fourth quarter, first scoring on a pull up jumper, then sinking a 3 off of a pass from La’Jean Williams. A Raya Johnson drive for a basket made it 44-28. Another jumper from Dickerson with 1:48 to go pushed things to 46-32 – where the final score settled in the end.
Hahnville head coach Joshua Bellaire said his team did a good job of battling, but a handful of third quarter turnovers gave Destrehan the fuel it needed to close.
“We did a good job of finding their shooters, finding specifically 22 (Howard) and we did a good job limiting her shot attempts in the first half,” said Bellaire. “We did a good job of closing out and rotating. In the second half, they put some pressure on us and we turned it over at some inopportune times. In the playoffs, if you cough it up, it’s never a good sign.
“That third quarter blitz was really the difference, I thought. It fueled them, got them some easy points. We did a good job making things hard for them in the first half, but those turnovers we had in the third quarter kind of got them going.”
