MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 18, 2000

RESERVE – There is a bit of excitement among the East St. John girls’basketball team as it steps off the bus on the East Ascension campus forits first scrimmage of the 2000-01 season. The Lady Cats know they willbe facing a tough opponent in the Lady Spartans but they are lookingforward to the challenge. For the past five weeks, the Lady Cats have beenpracticing against each other and they can’t wait to go against someone ina different colored uniform.

It would turn out to be an enjoyable night for East St. John. The juniorvarsity takes the lead for the first time with 10 seconds left to pull out a28-27 victory. Lacrisha Walker leads the way with 15 points. The varsityfollows with a 66-52 win, pulling away in the second half after taking athree-point lead into halftime.

“We played kind of sloppy in the first half,” Kinya Lennix, who scored ateam-high 17 points, said. “We knew we had to turn it up in the thirdquarter. Overall, in the second half we played pretty well.”Freshmen Erin Keller and Kojovona Hamilton score 14 and 10 points,respectively, while co-captain Danielle Stemley adds another nine.

“It was awkward at first,” Keller said of her first game. “But playing inthe summer league helped us as a team jell. Other than that, it felt like anormal game.”

Keller starred for the Our Lady of Grace team in junior high. She said thedifference in high school is that she’s not counted on to lead the offense.

“I’m not the go-to player now,” Keller said. “I’m not the No. 1 scorer allthe time down the court. We have seniors who know what to do.”East St. John coach Troy Giordano said the team accomplished nearlyeverything it set out to do.

“It was an exciting night for everybody,” Giordano said. “It was a greatway to start. The players couldn’t wait to play against somebody else. Weran everything we wanted to run and everybody got playing time.”Four days later, the Lady Cats are back at it again for another scrimmage,this time at Ponchatoula. As soon as the team enters the gym, they findout they will have to deal with more than the Lady Green Wave.

There isalso the matter of mosquitoes, many of which are just smaller than theirWorld War Two namesakes.

The junior varsity quickly gets off to a 10-0 start behind a layup byWalker and a 3-pointer and a layup by Ashley Porter. Ponchatoula slowlypulls back into the game, closing to within 19-14 with 50 seconds left inthe first half. But Porter answers with a drive inside, giving East St. Johna 21-14 lead at the break.

Ponchatoula opens the second half with four straight points to pull back towithin three. But the Lady Cats respond after coach Bob Payne calls atimeout, going on an 18-2 run to take a 39-20 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Cats cruise from there, taking a 45-38 victory.

The varsity also pulls away early, taking a 7-1 lead as Keller takes a passinside from Stemley. A put back by Keller makes it 18-7 at the end of thefirst quarter. East St. John continues to pull away in the second quarter asKeller grabs a rebound and throws deep to Lennix for a 32-9 lead. It wouldbe 32-11 at the half.

“You’re doing everything we want you to do,” Giordano tells his team atthe half. “Some sloppy play is costing you, but overall you are playing verywell.”

The Lady Cats continue to play well in the second half. The biggestexcitement comes with five minutes left in the third quarter as Giordanojumps off the bench to protest after Hamilton gets hit hard going up for abasket. Whitnee Chatman scores on a put back and Porter hits a jumperfrom the free throw line to make it 43-14 at the end of the third quarter.

The game ends with a 61-29 East St. John victory.

“Good job,” Giordano tells the team before it leaves the gym. “I’m proud ofyour performance. We should be fine-tuned now. But keep in mind it onlygets harder. We have to keep it going up a notch. We have to step it up.”

The team steps onto the bus for the ride back home knowing that it indeedwill get harder very soon. In four days, they will be making the trip backdown Interstate 55 to play in the Hammond Jamboree against defendingClass 3A state champion Loranger.

Not Going Down

The ride is relatively quiet on the way from LaPlace to Hammond on thisearly Saturday morning. Most of the players take this opportunity to grab anap. Others are either talking to a teammate or listening to Walkmans.

Just before leaving the bus, the team will gather around for a prayer.

Springfield and St. Thomas Aquinas are playing down to the wire as theLady Cats enter the gym. As soon as that game is over, warm-ups begin forEast St. John and Loranger. The Lady Wolves quickly show why they are thedefending Class 3A champions, going through a crisp warm-up.

That crispness continues as the game gets underway. A drive by Kayla Ardgives Loranger a 12-6 lead with 6:25 left in the first half. Ard will thenput back another shot and Amy Faust will find Kirby Smith inside to makeit 18-6, forcing Giordano to use a 30-second timeout at the 4:55 mark.

East St. John begins to chip into the deficit after the timeout. Stemley andKeller both knock down threes from the right side to make it 18-12 with3:15 left. Lennix then gets hot, pulling up for a jumper from the free throwline, then taking a pass from Stemley inside for a layup. She adds twomore free throws to cut the deficit to 21-18 at the half.

“You know what’s the first thing I’m going to tell you,” Giordano tells theteam in the doorway outside the court. “You came out flat. You cannotcome out against a real good team and play flat because they are so good.

The good news is that you came back late and are only down three.”But the deficit grows to seven as Loranger again comes out hot. KyleeBurnthorn and Megan Colona both take passes inside to make it 25-18.

Giordano calls another 3-second timeout with 7:08 left.

But Loranger continues to scorch the nets. Smith comes off a defender tobury a jumper from the left baseline to make it 32-22 with four minutesto play. Faust banks in another jumper to make it 37-26. Lennix comesback with a bank shot of her own but Misty Ard answers with a jumperfrom the left side to make it 39-28.

Then comes a comeback that the Lady Cats may remember for a long time.

Hamilton gets it started with a 3-pointer from the right side with 1:05left. The Lady Cats press, forcing a turnover with 1:01 left. Loranger usesa 30-second timeout, its last.

After the break, Hamilton goes in strong for a rebound and passes inside toLennix who is fouled as her shot rims out. The official signals the foul,then asks the table if the shot went in and is told no.

“You can give it to us if you want,” Giordano jokes from the bench.

Lennix makes the first of two free throws to make it 39-32. On the otherside of the court, Velinda Ard grabs a rebound and passes to Keller who isfouled. Keller sinks both free throws to cut the deficit to 39-34 with 39seconds left.

The Lady Cats pressure the rebound, forcing Loranger to use a timeout. Asthe players walk toward the bench, Joe Williams, the East St. Johnbookkeeper is yelling to the officials that the Lady Wolves do not have anyleft. The officials confer and make the call – technical foul. Two freethrows and possession for the Lady Cats. Lennix sinks both foul shots andon the ensuing possession, Ard grabs a rebound and is fouled. She makesthe second of two, making it 39-37 with 29.9 seconds left.

After an East St. John timeout, Faust takes the ball inside and is fouled byKeller. Faust misses the front end of the one-and-one with Lennix grabbingthe rebound. The Lady Cats quickly get the ball down court and with theclock running down, Raeonda Jasper launches a 3-pointer from the rightside. The ball hits the front of the rim and bounces over the goal. Hamiltonbattles her way inside, grabs the rebound and puts the shot back in, tyingthe game with six seconds left. Loranger cannot get the ball upcourt astime expires.

“Excellent comeback,” Giordano tells the team in the lockerroom. “I’vehave the stat of the night for you, you were down eight with one minuteleft. They must have shot 90 percent from the field and as many shots aswe missed, to keep coming back showed a lot of heart. This team weplayed could win 3A again and you tied them. Excellent performance. Itwas everything you want for the scrimmage.”

Lennix, the team’s co-captain, then speaks up. “I have a correction for youcoach,” Lennix says. “You said go down fighting. We’re not going down anyway.”

It’s a bit more noisy on the bus on the way back. And the players haveanother stat to celebrate. The team had missed 26 free throws againstPonchatoula and had to run 28 sprints in practice the next day.

Havingmade 12-of-15 from the line against Loranger, there would be a lot lessrunning come Monday.

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