By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE –Riverside girls basketball coach Trenese Smith said she sometimes needs to convey a short message to her young guard Toni Hebert: Just shoot it.

On Thursday night, Hebert did just that, much to the benefit of her Rebels.

Hebert scored 21 points including a stretch of 15 straight that put the game away for Riverside as it defeated rival St. Charles, 47-28, in LaPlace.

“I just started shooting and gained confidence as it kept going in,” said Hebert. “It’s a big rivalry and district game for us and we were pumped up when we came in here tonight.”

Said Smith: “I tell her when she gets the ball, and you have the shot, you need to take it. She’s our best shooter. Those shots weren’t going down at all in the first half but a shooter has to keep shooting.

“And when someone’s got the hot hand, and Toni did tonight, you’ve got to keep feeding them. We really needed to do that more. When you keep going to them and those shots keep going down, they’ll come out on you and that opens the inside game for everyone else.”

Riverside led 30-17 early in the second half when Hebert began to heat up. She hit a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 33-17, then was fouled shooting another 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. She’d make 2-of-3 at the line. With a minute left in the third quarter, she hit another 3 to score her eighth point in a span of 1:08 and put Riverside on top 38-17.

“Our defense played well for most of the night, but I though we got a bit lazy in that a stretch,” said St. Charles coach Kelly Cupit. “She got hot and we didn’t do anything about it.”

St. Charles’ Nicole Doming hit a turnaround jumper to halt what was a 12-0 Rebels’ run, but Hebert answered with 3’s on back-to-back possessions, then added a free throw to make it 45-19 and a personal 15-2 run.

Megan Malik and Kelsie Joseph each scored six for Riverside.

Courtney Snyder led St. Charles (3-13, 1-2) with eight points. Kacie Braud added six.

The Rebels (5-14, 1-1) established a double-digit lead in the first half after a 7-0 run with RA leading 13-7. Hebert made a free throw and Channon Simmons made a basket to push the lead to 16-7. Jill Blanchard made two free throws and Hebert made another bucket to make it 20-7.

St. Charles cut the lead to single digits after made buckets by Heather Orillion, Snyder and Alex Hitt made it 22-13, but Simmons pushed the halftime lead back to 11 with a score late in the second quarter.

“We ran our offense well, but the shots didn’t fall tonight,” said Cupit. “If we keep making good decisions then the scoring will come.

Said Smith: “I’m happy with how we played tonight. Hopefully this comes as a confidence boost.”