By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

While St. Charles earned itself district championship accolades last week, a game Brusly squad ensured the Comets would have to share the honor.

On Friday night, the Panthers defeated SCC 58-53 at Brusly in the final District 9-3A game for both teams, dropping the Comets into a first place tie with Plaquemine.

“We had to recover from a slow start to get back into it,” said St. Charles Nolan Louque. “We played an okay game, but a couple of breaks bounced their way, and we came up short.”

Plaquemine edged Port Allen last week 51-50 to finish 6-2 in district.

While SCC (21-12, 6-2) and Plaquemine are co-district champions, the two teams played Monday night at East Ascension to determine which gets first place power point seedings from the district. Plaquemine prevailed 53-43. Becker scored 18, while Kacie Braud added nine.

Each team has qualified for the playoffs and will play its first round game by week’s end.

SCC’s Brooke Becker scored 37 points on Friday to lead all scorers. Jaymie Remondet added five for the Comets.

Shantrell Pierson and Ashley Lemar successfully countered for Brusly (13-14, 5-3). Pierson scored 22 to lead the Panthers, while Lemar scored 21.

Brusly led 10-2 in the first quarter, but St. Charles outscored the Panthers 21-13 in the rest of the half to make it a 23-23 tie at halftime.

“We settled down,” said Louque. “We were trying to force it inside and turning it over. We called time out and we stressed taking care of the ball. We started putting good pressure on them defensively, and so we began chipping away.”

The game remained close through three quarters, with Brusly taking a 35-33 lead into the fourth quarter – a period SCC has typically excelled in this season.

But the Panthers wouldn’t be denied. The fourth quarter was the highest scoring of the game for both teams, as they combined for 43 points in the period.

But Brusly’s perimeter shooting proved the difference – three Panther 3-pointers in the quarter would prove to be backbreakers for SCC.

“We packed in our defense, and they responded by hitting some threes,” Louque said. “Those killed us.”

Also not helping matters has been a rash of injuries. Becker missed time on Friday night with a minor injury. Point guard Dominique DiCarlo and backup guard Rachael McNulty are also banged up.

“It’s something you always deal with at the end of the year,” said Louque. “But our veteran leaders are hurting right now.”