By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE—Strong efforts by Channan Simmons and Jaimaya Bolden led Riverside Monday in a decisive District 10-2A victory over St. Mary’s, 61-30.

Simmons scored 13 points while netting nine assists, six rebounds and seven steals while leading RA at point guard. Bolden, meanwhile, scored a game-high 14 points to go along with nine rebounds.

After a brief four game losing skid against strong Class 4A and 5A foes in early January, Riverside (13-11, 3-0) has now won four of its last five games, each win coming by 12 points or more.

“I thought we set the tempo early in this one,” said Riverside coach Kathy Luke. “We executed our offense extremely well in the first quarter and that got us going.”

Bolden, Luke said, did her part to keep St. Mary’s (8-12) from generating second shot opportunities.

“Jaimaya played extremely well,” said Luke. “She did a great job boxing out and keeping them to one shot attempt. I thought she played at a much higher level.”

Simmons, meanwhile, stuffed the stat sheet in multiple ways, highlighted by her seven steals.

“She finished really well on those steals, too,” said Luke. “At one point, she ran off three in a row, I believe in the third quarter.’

“I feel like we’ve elevated our play, which is a good thing with us now into our district schedule. This win was a total team effort.”

Riverside will play three times next week: at Country Day Tuesday, then home games loom with Thomas Jefferson Thursday and Patterson Friday.

“It’s gonna be some tough competition. Country Day’s ranked in the top 10 of Class 1A,” said Luke. “Thomas Jefferson’s very athletic, and Patterson’s having a good season as well. We picked up that game because I felt it was a good spot to get an extra game. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”