Local girls hoops squads trending in right direction
Published 11:45 pm Friday, November 21, 2014
By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur
RESERVE — West St. John girls basketball coach Lester Smith is recovering from recent hip surgery, but his Lady Rams may give him plenty of reason to regain some pep in his step over the coming weeks.
The Rams return three players from L’OBSERVATEUR’S All-St. John Parish team, including guards Maya Trench and JuJuan Nicholas and forward Jaquanna Hunter, from a squad that went 26-5 last season and reached the Class 1A quarterfinals.
All three scored in double figures per game last season, led by Trench’s 17.7 points a contest. Nicholas scored 15.5 points per game, while Hunter added 10.8.
“I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty good,” Smith said. “We’ll take some lumps early, but if we stay healthy I like what we’ve got.”
The Rams opened this week by playing up to some stiff competition, falling decisively to 2014 Class 4A runner-up Warren Easton, 58-24. Hunter led the Rams with nine points.
West St. John has advanced to at least the state quarterfinals in each of the past three seasons and won its district’s championship in each of the past five years. West St. John is 110-21 overall over the past five seasons, representing by far the peak era of the Rams’ program.
East St. John, meanwhile, returns a talented team as most of the roster from the Wildcats’ 2013-14 campaign is back this season, beginning with guard Da’Rae Taylor.
Taylor, the Ladycats’ leading scorer (13 ppg) and passer (6 apg) last season, will join ascending forward Kannisha Brooks (nine points and nine rebounds per game) to lead a team hoping to reclaim the district championship it shared with Destrehan two years ago, and to find playoff success.
“We’re very young, but also very deep,” ESJ coach Jackson Manuel said. “We can legitimately play 10 people, and it gives us a chance to wear other teams down.
At Riverside, Kathy Luke will see a lot of roster turnover in her second season as Rebels coach, though much was the same a season ago — Riverside lost center Kendra Turner before the season, but turned in a 19-win campaign and a postseason victory.
Luke, who boasts a career record of 705-245 including successful runs at Vandebilt Catholic and Seton Academy, will be guiding a roster that starts one sophomore, three freshmen and an 8th grader. Ja’Keyra Gautreaux will lead the charge this season after the departures of fellow leading scorers Toni Hebert and Channan Simmons.
“We’re able to shoot from the perimeter, and if teams come out to get us, we do have the size inside to be very strong in the paint,” Luke said.
“But right now, it’s just too early to know anything for sure. Everyone isn’t completely comfortable with one another yet. It’s going to be a process.”
At St. Charles Catholic, Nolan Louque returns to the sideline. Louque was the team’s head coach for the 2008-09 season, leading SCC to its last district championship and a postseason berth.
This season, Lela Hill and Maddie Murphy figure to factor large into the Comet plans.
“We’ve got a team full of underclassmen, and they’ll be looking to (Hill and Murphy) for leadership,” Louque said.
“I see our players getting better and better each day. We’ll take some bumps and bruises early, but I think this team has a bright future.
“How fast our younger girls get acclimated to the way we play will dictate how good we’ll be.”