By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE–It was a Lady Wildcat face-off last Friday as East St. John and St. James squared up. And the ESJ squad left little doubt as to which team was the more dominant as they dispatched St. James 55-18 in Reserve.

The game started out in defensive fashion as Stasha Thomas opened scoring with a free throw after a full minute of play. St. James’ Ariel Mitchell recorded the game’s next points almost two minutes later with a three followed by a steal and a basket in a thirty second span on the game clock. Freshman Michelle Thomas gave ESJ the lead with five consecutive points of her own to finish the first quarter with a 6-5 score.

Michelle Thomas hit another three early in the second and a three-point play by Stasha Thomas gave East St. John some cushion, which they would expand to 13 points before halftime.

After the break, ESJ kept up the defensive pressure, allowing only five points for the third consecutive quarter. But St. James fared even worse in the final period, posting only three points. ESJ’s Kiera Jones ended the assault, killing the final thirty-five seconds of the clock to finish the game with a final score of 55-18.

Stasha Thomas and Michelle Thomas led East St. John with 22 and 18 points respectively. Leandra Priestly led St. James in scoring for the game with seven.

The win for the East St. John squad brings their record to 20-4 on the season as they prepared to take on West Jeff in a district match this week