Freshman Mechel’le Thomas leads all scorers

By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE – The LadyCats were left scrambling Thursday night against Airline in the opening round of the post-season where ESJ ended a promising season on their home court. Truth be told, the scrambling started Monday afternoon when East St. John coach Troy Giordano got a call informing him that his team would be playing a game this week despite having been previously told by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association that they had earned a bye. Quite suddenly, Giordano had a lot of work to do.

By Thursday night, the LadyCats hustled up a game plan and took the court, but got off to a slow start. After tip-off, ESJ applied heavy pressure on the defensive side, but were caught out of place for several early brackets. Bt the time they got it in gear, the Airline squad had taken a 11-9 lead.

But at the opening of the second quarter, the LadyCats got their first lead of the game when senior Stasha Thomas sunk a go-ahead basket. The teams traded blows through the period until Thomas made a three point play and junior Crystal Fleming took a steal all the way back for two more and a 26-22 halftime lead.

Airline came out after the break and chipped into the LadyCat’s lead, tying it up mid-way through the quarter. ESJ leaned on freshman Mechel’le Thomas and her game high 22 points for offense and looked to senior Leslie Forest and junior Crystal Fleming for defense. A rebound and putback by Forest, followed by a block on the other end by Fleming broke some of the momentum for Airline and ESJ went on a 9-1 run and a 41-36 lead. But with 4:31 left to play, Lady Viking senior Emily Carter and junior Rashima Jenkins put in a pair of baskets to tie the game for the fourth tied score of the game ESJ isolated Mechel’le Thomas’ defender to give the freshman standout a 1-on-1, which she used to score to take a two point lead with 2:26 left

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to play. But Airline’s Carter came right back with a basket to tie and a block on the other side to put East St. John in a pickle. Airline began running off the clock, forcing the LadyCats to pressure, and putting Carter at the line for the final three points to make it 48-43. With :17 left, ESJ just couldn’t hit a three to put a dent into the lead, and Airline ran out the final seconds with their last possession.

It was due to a ruling committee’s vote to add several schools to the bracket because of absences caused by closings in New Orleans, the bye round was rescinded in a late decision.

The LadyCats will return with a core intact for next season, but will be without the services of seniors Leslie Forest and Stasha Thomas who were main contributors.