Lions sweep Riverside with stifling defensive effort

By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE– French Settlement’s Lion basketball squads swept the boys and girls varsity teams Monday night at Riverside with wins of 42-90 and 51-31.

The Lady Rebs started out the action with the early game where the loss puts them at 8-5 on the season. For that game, the Riverside team traded blows with French Settlement in the first quarter with a seven to three run toward the end of the period compliments of Brittany Parret.

The Lady Lions retook the lead early in the second quarter with a run of their own, and the Lady Rebs Jenna Elfer slowed the streak with two points at the three-and-a-half minute mark. But an adjustment into a rotating defense stifled Riverside into a 18-26 halftime deficit.

After the break, the Lady Lions scored the first ten straight points, mostly from guard Brittni Aydell, to pull into a commanding lead. Elfer led a push going into the end of the third quarter with a free throw and a pair of buckets, but French Settlement kept up their offensive side to maintain the lead and an eventual 51-31 win.

Parret led the Lady Rebels in scoring with 14 while Elfer netted 13 points. Aydell led all scorers in the game with 22.

The boys game was a tough one for Riverside, as they struggled on both sides of the ball early on and found themselves down 33-5 after the first period of play. The second was much of the same and the Rebels went into the break trailing by 40 points.

For the second half, Riverside began to find some more offense, and French Settlement slowed down the pace a bit to begin to eat up the clock. The teams matched offensive output in the final period with 17 points apiece to end the game 90-42.

David Serven led Rebel scorers with 11 while Robert Tamplain added six. Josh Crowder posted a game high 23 points while teammate Alex Williams got 16 of his own.

The loss drops the Rebels boys squad to 2-6 on the season. They are scheduled to host Ecole Classique tomorrow before holding the Riverside Academy Holiday Classic beginning on December 26. The girls are set to travel to Fisher on that day for a match against the Lady Gators.