by George Mahl Sports Editor

The basketball season for both the boys and the girls are in full swing.

And while some teams are performing as expected, others are somewhat either exceeding expectations or are still a mystery. One school right now that is very excited about both of its basketball programs is East St. John.

The girls team, coached by Troy Giordano, seems to be playing in a world of its own right now. Sporting an unbelievable 29-0 record, the Lady Cats are well on their way to representing the River Parishes and district 6-5A at the Sweet 16 in Hammond. I am really not sure there is any team that can defeat this group of young ladies.

The way this team is defeating the opposition reminds me in a way of how West St. John defeated their opposition on their way to winning the 2A State Football Championship. They easily defeated a highly-regarded Ellender team recently and went out and defeated Chapelle, 79-46 last Friday night. Let’s give the boys basketball team at the Reserve school some credit too. Head coach Charles Julien dug himself into a deep hole early in the season.

The Wildcats started off 0-3 in district play and have bounced back nicely to win five games in a row and improve to 4-3 in district play. Perhaps their most impressive performance was a 90-70 thumping of Ellender. The same Ellender team that defeated Reserve Christian, a team that won two of three games at a national tournament.

We can only hope that a boys game between Reserve Christian and East St. John can be scheduled for next year. The atmosphere would be electric.

Unfortuantly, while one St. John Parish public school is doing well on the court, another is struggling. I am surprised to see the West St. John Rams currently sport a mediocre 9-9 record heading into district play. The Rams are a team I thought had a chance to go deep into the playoffs this year.

With four of its returning starters back, West St. John head coach Antoine Edwards must be scratching his head as to what has happening to his team right now. Maybe they are still hung up on winning the state football championship or something. Who knows?

Well, from here on out is when it really counts. Teams have about one month left to try and figure things out. If they don’t, they will be talking about the playoffs and not playing in them.