For all the momentum that Hahnville has garnered this season on the basketball court – and entering Friday night, the Lady Tigers had won 15-of-16 games, so there was plenty – there was one game HHS couldn’t quite shake: a 51-29 loss on its home floor to archrival Destrehan on Jan. 2, one that threatened Hahnville’s hopes of earning the District 7-5A championship.
Hahnville was more than ready for the rematch.
A suffocating defensive performance was the difference as Hahnville emerged with a 37-35 victory Friday at Destrehan that pulls Hahnville into first place in District 7-5A. It avenged what was the Tigers’ only loss since Dec. 2 and represented the seventh consecutive win for HHS.
“I told the girls that we wanna just be us … we’re gonna go out of this thing being us, playing our style of basketball,” said HHS head coach Joshua Bellaire. “One of my players reminded me of something before this game – trust is a two-way thing. I’ve gotta trust them, and I do. I trust them and they trust me, and we’re gonna do what we’re gonna do.”
Bellaire said Lady Tigers basketball – and especially on Friday night – is about aggressive, attacking team defense.
“Three R’s – we have to rotate, we have to rebound and we have to run,” Bellaire said. “(Attacking the passing lanes and getting into transition) is Lady Tiger basketball. We get after it.”
Hahnville (21-4, 8-1) led by four, 19-15, after a half of play.
Early in the second half, a Koi Ursin 3-pointer cut what was a 7-point HHS lead to 23-19. But Dihlynn Mitchell answered with a 3 from the corner to push the lead back to 26-19. Then Paige Friloux’s offensive rebound and putback extended the Tiger lead to 28-19.
Another transition bucket, this one by Aaliyah Lorio off an assist by Mitchell, gave HHS its biggest lead of 10.
Destrehan battled back. Early in the fourth quarter, Honesty Miller’s rebound and putback cut the Hahnville lead to 3. Georgia Alfred’s runner provided an answer at the other end for Hahnville.
Then at the top of the key, Mitchell got a step on her defender and drove to the basket for a layup to push Hahnville’s lead to 7. The Tigers were able to hold off the Wildcats from there – DHS cut the lead to 2, but with just 1.5 seconds left.
Hahnville was able to inbound the ball and kill the clock – and the emotion flowed from the joyful Tigers.
“We’ve been playing with them our whole lives,” said Mitchell as to why the win meant so much.
Added Saige Stewart, “This game is big. It always is. It moves us up in district … tonight, we communicated better and worked better as a team than we did the last time. We put our individual stuff aside and communicated better with one another.”
Stewart scored 12 and Mitchell 11 to lead the Tigers.
It was the second straight loss for Destrehan (13-7, 7-2) after a tough 42-40 loss last week at Thibodaux. After going unbeaten through a round of District 7-5A play, the Wildcats have fallen into second place in the district standings. Destrehan (14-7, 8-2) bounced back on Tuesday with a 56-47 win over Bourgeois.
Koi Ursin scored 15 points and Amaya Armstrong added 12 to lead the Wildcats.
HAHNVILLE 68, EAST ST. JOHN 64 – Hahnville followed up on the win over Destrehan with another victory over a 7-5A rival, the Tigers’ eighth straight win and 17th in their last 18 games.
Paige Friloux’s 26 points led the way for the Tigers (22-4, 9-1).
