By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Jaylyn Gordon left some big shoes to fill at West St. John, but fresh off of the best season in team history the Lady Rams are off to a 2-0 start.
Behind Maya Trench’s 30 point effort, WSJ toppled rival St. James 70-46 Thursday night, rolling to victory after outscoring the Wildcats 19-5 in the first quarter.
“We came out and pressed them early,” said West St. John coach Lester Smith. “Once we got out to that big lead, we coasted after that.”
Jaquanna Hunter scored 14 to compliment Trench’s big night. Lakendra Lewis and Sydnei Young each scored eight, while Mychelle Lumar scored five.
West St. John led 30-19 at halftime and 54-40 after three quarters.
Gordon, a three-time All-State selection, graduated last summer and moved on to play at the University of Lafayette. She helped lead the Rams to the Class 1A state championship game last season, the first time the Rams had ever advanced that far.
Trench, Gordon’s younger cousin, was the Rams’ second leading scorer last season and is expected to take the lead scoring role in Gordon’s absence. With the Rams playing without fellow scorer Jujuan Nicholas over the first two games, Trench has averaged 25 points per game.
“With Jujuan out, Maya knew she’d have to step it up and she’s done that,” said Smith.
The team is working Lewis in at point guard in order to allow Smith to move Trench to shooting guard.
Smith said that replacing the 20-plus points per game that Gordon averaged last season won’t fall on just Trench or any other individual player, however.
“We talked about it with them in the summer,” said Smith. “We’re going to need that production to come across the board. Sydnei knows we’re gonna need eight to 10 from her each night. Mychelle’s someone who can help us a lot. And Jaquanna’s been playing really well.”
Smith said that the Rams are smaller this season and will have to find ways to compensate for that defensively and on the boards.
“Our expectations are still high, though,” said Smith. “It would be tough to repeat last season. But we’re still looking at that district championship, getting to the playoffs and making a run back to that championship game.”
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WEST ST. JOHN 46, HIGGINS 32 – Trench scored 20 to lead the Rams to a 14-point win at home over the Hurricanes in the season opener for both teams.
Hunter added 10 and Lumar eight points for the Rams.