RESERVE — There isn’t really a big rivalry between East St. John and West St. John in girls basketball, but there was one Monday.

East St. John girls coach Stasha Thomas is from Edgard, but she played at and graduated from East St. John. Now she is the Lady Wildcats coach. So there was a whole lot of family and friends in the East St. John gym Monday to see the Wildcats take a 56-42 non-district victory.

“My whole family is here,” Thomas said. “My grandma, my mom, all my aunts, everybody. My grandmother said she wanted to wear a West St. John shirt, but my daddy said, ‘No. You’re wearing an East St. John shirt.’”

Thomas said an earlier loss to the Rams in the St. Mary’s tournament helped her strategize for Monday’s game. West St. John took that game, 47-43.

“Pretty much my game plan for this one was to go in and push the ball and run,” Thomas said. “That’s what we do so well. All our games we’ve won, we’ve won by running the floor and that’s pretty much what we did. We’re quick. We’re fast. (We have) a lot of athletes. We pretty much played our game and didn’t let them dictate to us.”

Meah Monroe led all scorers on her team with 20 points. Briana Thompson followed with 19. They were the only two Wildcats to reach double figures. NaKendra Wilson was next with 7.

Maya Trench led the Lady Rams with 26 points and was the only player to reach double figures.

East St. John’s Selena James got things started with a 3-pointer, but Trench came back with three in a row to help the Rams take an early lead. West St. John held on to a 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Thompson helped ESJ (8-5) pull away quickly in the second quarter. She hit the first three baskets of the period, including one to tie the game at 13 and the next to put the Wildcats ahead for good. East St. John outscored WSJ 19-13 in the quarter and led 30-20 at the half.

West St. John coach Lester Smith said his team was missing Jaquana Hunter, who was ill.

“That’s a 20-point scorer right there,” Smith said. “So, we were short-handed a little bit. It was a real good test for us. It gave some other kids an opportunity to step up.”

East St. John improved to 8-5 with the win. The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Central Lafourche Tuesday night after press time.

West St. John (8-5) went 3-0 at last weekend’s Riverside Academy tournament, beating H.L. Bourgeois, 59-33; Assumption, 62-38; and notching a nice win over Thibodaux, 46-43 with Hunter scoring 22 points and Trench 16.

“It was a good win for us,” Smith said. “We were able to do some things that were good for us. We’re on the right track.”

The Rams (8-5) are off until Dec. 30, when they host East Iberville.

Riverside Academy coach Kathy Luke said her weekend tournament was indeed a success. Her team defeated Assumption, 43-41; H.L. Bourgeois, 59-32; and South Terrebonne, 55-47; but lost to Ursuline, 45-35.

“That’s a very good, very well-coached team,” Luke said of Ursuline. “I thought our kids played extremely well, especially in the first half. I thought our defense was superb. We lost the second half by our own mistakes, turnovers and not blocking their big kid.”

Besides the work her team got in, Luke said the overall tournament went well.

“A lot of people told me they want to come back,” she said. “So I guess that’s good.”

The Lady Rebels were 9-3 as they went into a Tuesday night game against Morgan City.