By Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / February 18, 1998

RESERVE – Riverside withstood a third-quarter comeback by St. CharlesCatholic to defeat the Lady Comets, 66-54, and clinch second place in District 9-2A Friday night.

It was Riverside’s second victory of the season over the Lady Comets and clinched a playoff spot for the Lady Rebels. Riverside (16-12 overall, 7-3in district) will play at either Welsh or Lake Arthur this week in the bi- district playoffs.

St. Charles Catholic finished fourth in the district with a 5-5 record andare 14-17 overall. The Lady Comets were beaten out for a wildcard byJackson and Pine Tuesday.

Riverside took a 29-23 lead into the locker room at halftime behind 15 points by Melissa Martin and six by Michelle Millet.

St. Charles Catholic came out of the break with a 7-1 run, tying the gameat 30 with 5:50 left in the quarter on a 3-pointer by Melanie Punch and a jump shot by Liz Dufresne. After a timeout by Riverside, the Lady Rebelsregained the lead on a layup by Jennifer Guidry and a three-point play by Millet.

St. Charles Catholic again rallied, taking its first lead of the game with2:34 left in the quarter on jump shots by Dufresne and Punch and a put back by Oberschmidt. After the Lady Rebels tied the score, Punch buried a3-pointer to give the Lady Comets a 39-36 lead with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Riverside responded with a three-point play by Millet and took a lead it would not relinquish on a put back by Guidry. Guidry followed with twofree throws, giving the Lady Rebels a 43-39 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Lady Rebels built their lead to 47-39 on a jump shot by Guidry with 6:40 remaining in the game. St. Charles Catholic answered with a put backby Shannon Dolive and a layup by Punch to pull to within 47-43. Martinresponded with a three-point play and then grabbed a defensive rebound, taking it the length of the court to give the Lady Rebels a 52-43 lead.

Three-pointers by Punch and Dufresne and a put back by Oberschmidt rallied the Lady Comets to within 56-51 with 1:54 remaining. The LadyRebels built it back to nine on two free throws each by Martin and Millet.

A put back by Oberschmidt cut the deficit back to 60-54, but Guidry and Millet hit four of six free throws in the final seconds to put the game away.

Millet led all scorers with 26 points, 20 coming in the second half. Martinadded 20 points, while Guidry and Ashley Bourgeois contributed 13 and seven points, respectively.

Oberschmidt led the Lady Comets’ rally with 23 points. Punch tossed in 18points, while Dufresne contributed nine points.

“It was a big game,” Riverside coach John McMillan said. “Both gamescould have gone either way. We were fortunate at the end of the game thatwe were able to make the plays.

“It is a great rivalry. The kids played hard on both sides. That is what highschool athletics is supposed to be about.”St. Charles Catholic coach Jeff Montz said his team felt that they couldcome back at halftime.

“We talked about how we knew we had not played as well as we are capable of and were only down by six,” Montz said.

“We settled down and got a few breaks ourselves. But we then cooled offand they settled down and did a good job of pulling it out. They have done agood job and have earned the right to be there (in the playoffs).”Riverside saw history made in jumping out to a 16-8 first quarter lead.

With two free throws with 4:20 remaining in the quarter, Martin went over the 2000-point mark for her career. Martin and fellow senior HannahHobdy were honored before their final regular season home game with the Lady Rebels.

Martin built the lead to 14-4 on a three-point play. St. Charles Catholicrallied behind a jump shot by Punch and two free throws by Oberschmidt to cut the deficit to eight at the end of the quarter.

After the teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the second quarter, Riverside took its biggest lead of the game at 25-14 on two free throws by Martin.

Oberschmidt rallied the Lady Comets with nine points, including a 3- pointer, to cut the deficit to six at halftime. Oberschmidt scored 17points in the half.

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