By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – West St. John’s backcourt caught fire Monday night at St. Charles, as Jaylyn Gordon and Jujuan Nicholas combined to score 51 points in a 65-53 win over the Comets.

Gordon scored 31 points and Nicholas 20. Gordon hit four 3-pointers on the night.

For St. Charles, Kacie Braud was the high scorer with 23 points, also adding 13 rebounds. Emily Picciola scored 17.

The Comets got off to a strong start, leading West St. John 10-4 early before the Rams’ got into a groove. A Braud short jumper gave St. Charles a 12-8 lead, but a Gordon 3 pulled the Rams within one midway through the first quarter.

Braud scored the next two baskets to extend the SCC lead to 16-11.

“We’ve been working a lot on our offensive game,” said St. Charles coach Kelly Cupit. “We haven’t been scared to take the shots when they’re there, and if we continue to do that, we should see the improvement continue.”

But the Rams would end the first quarter on an 11-1 run and would never trail again. Jasmine Young ignited the surge with a basket, then Nicholas scored on back-to-back layups. Gordon scored on a pull up jumper to give WSJ a 19-16 lead. Picciola hit a free throw to make it 19-17, but Nicholas canned a 3 at the other end to make it 22-17.

“We did some uncharacteristic things early, but we got it together,” said West St. John coach Lester Smith. “We were taking too many long shots. Once we started going inside , it created some quality chances outside for us.”

The trend for WSJ continued in the second quarter, however, as Gordon began to take over. Her basket and free throw made it 27-19. Braud answered at the other end off of a pass by Heather Orillion, but Deja Feist pushed the lead back to eight, 29-21, with a bucket off of a feed from Gordon.

“Passing and cutting,” Nicholas said. “We’re working well as a team and we’re getting good results.”

Braud scored again but the Rams scored six straight points on baskets by Nicholas, Feist and Gordon. That made it 35-23. The Rams led 35-25 at halftime.

St. Charles wouldn’t truly go away. A Braud score at the midpoint of the third made it a 7-point game, 42-35. Another cut the lead to five. A short time later, a Braud offensive rebound led to an Orillion jumper, making it 44-40 in favor of WSJ.

But the final 50 seconds of the quarter proved fatal for SCC. Gordon hit a 3-pointer from the wing, then blocked a shot at the other end. The defense led to offense, as West St. John scored on its final possession of the quarter on a Nicholas 3, pushing the lead back to 10.

“I spoke with the girls before the game and warned them that West St. John has a couple of girls that can heat up fast,” said Cupit. “We still need to do a better job of containing those kinds of players when they get rolling.”

St. Charles would get no closer than seven the rest of the way.

The teams will rematch Thursday. The Comets and Rams’ boys teams will also face off.