By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

DESTREHAN – East St. John and Destrehan each took the floor on Friday night knowing a win would all but cement a playoff berth, while the loser would have to sweat out one of the final spots.

Destrehan rested easy this weekend. East St. John had to wait.

DHS’ Areion Banks hit a 3-pointer with 1:04 remaining that proved to be the game-winner as Destrehan edged East St. John 45-44 in the regular season and District 6-5A finale for each team.

Banks’ shot gave her team its eventual one-point victory margin. Her team had to survive a blistering final minute pace that saw ESJ notch five steals – each followed by a turnover back to the other side.

“We had our opportunities,” said East St. John coach Jackson Manuel. “Defensively, we did what we wanted to do, especially during that span. They weren’t really able to totally salt the game away or make us foul, but we shot ourselves in the foot.”

ESJ ranked 29th in power points entering last week. Destrehan ranked 33rd.

Each picked up an extra victory when district foe East Ascension was forced to forfeit games due to playing an ineligible athlete. Playoff seedings and matchups were set to be announced Monday (after presstime — early for Mardi Gras).

Destrehan forward Paige Rochelle had her latest in a string of strong performances against East St. John, leading all scorers with 26 points. 20 of those came in the second half, and Rochelle shot 10-of-10 at the foul line.

“I thought we had a good plan against her early on,” said Manuel. “But she got some calls and when we put her on the line, she made us pay for it. We thought that if we held her to 15 or less we’d win the game. We weren’t able to do that.”

East St. John led 19-12 after the first quarter, but DHS cut the lead to 24-23 by the half. ESJ maintained a one-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

Korielle Tucker led ESJ with 13. But the forward fouled out with four minutes left. She had already scored five of her team’s seven fourth-quarter points.

“That really hurt more than anything,” said Manuel.

Chardey Johnson and Harley Gauff each scored 11 for ESJ.