By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

West St. John rattled off three consecutive wins at the recent Xavier Prep tournament, downing St. Mary’s, McDonogh No. 35 and Lusher to move to 5-2.

“We’re going in the right direction,” said Rams’ coach Lester Smith. “We faced some good teams at the tournament. St. Mary’s is probably a playoff team, and McDonogh 35 is always good. So getting those wins were important.”

All three opponents play in Class 3A or above.

Jaylyn Gordon scored 14 and Maya Trench scored 13 to lead WSJ over St. Mary’s, 49-43.

It was a back and forth game that saw the Rams lead 12-7 after a quarter, but St. Mary’s fought back to tie things up at halftime, 22-22. The Rams pushed out to a three point lead after three before putting it away in the fourth.

The Rams then topped McDonogh No. 35 in overtime, 54-51, on a Donasia Bell game-winning 3-pointer with eight seconds left in overtime. WSJ had to rally after falling behind 16-12 in the first quarter. That lead held through the first half, but the Rams forced OT, where Bell’s heroics capped a nine-point frame.

Gordon scored 20 and Trench scored 15 for WSJ.

West St. John then made short work of Lusher, outscoring the Lions 14-3 in the first quarter and leading 30-6 at the half.

Gordon scored 18 and Trench added 10.

“We’ve continued to play good defense, and that’s kept us in every game,” he said. “We’ve got some tough teams coming up, so we can’t afford to take a step back.”

The Lady Rams will continue to play up in classification, with games against 4A Belle Chasse and 5A Higgins next week.