RESERVE — The first time East St. John and Destrehan met on the basketball court this season, it was all Destrehan.

This time, there was just too much Destrehan.

With a share of the District 7-5A title theirs for the taking, East St. John staged a mammoth comeback Friday attempt in the third quarter after trailing by 12 at the half. While the Destrehan defense bent, it did not give, and Destrehan came away with a 67-53 victory and sole possession of the district championship.

East St. John coach Stasha Thomas-James said she challenged her team in the third quarter after it let Destrehan roll to a double-digit lead.

Whatever she said worked.

The home-standing Wildcats outscored the visitors 19-12 in the third quarter with four 3-pointers and nine points off of turnovers. Kynedi Poullard hit three 3-point shots in the quarter, and Kyla Brumfield hit one to help East St. John whittle Destrehan’s lead to 48-43.

East St. John’s onslaught continued early in the fourth quarter. Selena James’ 3-pointer with six minutes remaining cut the lead to 51-46, then Taylor Lipps’ jumper cut it to 3.

With 4:52 remaining in the game, Lipps hit a 3-pointer that cut Destrehan’s lead to 53-51. That was as close as East St. John would get.

Destrehan all-star Cara Ursin took control in the game’s final minutes, scoring six points and nabbing three steals to help the visiting Wildcats take the win.

“We were well-prepared,” Thomas-James said. “We didn’t give up. I thought we played well.”

Meah Monroe led the scoring with 13 points, and Poullard scored 11 for ESJ. Ursin finished with 29 points for Destrehan.

On Feb. 2, the Lady Wildcats took a decisive 53-28 victory over Thibodaux. East St. John outscored the Lady Tigers 15-9 in the first quarter, 13-5 in the second quarter and held them to three points in the third.

Taylor Lipps led the scoring with 14 points, and Monroe followed with 10 points.

Poullard, Kayla Jackson and James all finished with seven points.

East St. John (16-8, 8-2) will close out the regular season Friday at Terrebonne.

Riverside Academy

The Riverside Lady Rebels completed their sweep of St. Charles Catholic on Feb. 2, but had to fight hard get a 34-33 win.

At halftime, Rebels coach Kathy Luke told her team, “If it comes down to the end of the game and they’re in a 2-3 zone, we’re going to run Connecticut to win it.”

Imagine Luke’s shock when, in the final seconds, the Lady Comets went into a 2-3 zone.

“I came out of my chair,” she said.

With 17 seconds remaining and trailing by 1, Luke called a timeout to set up the play to get the ball to Dannecia Nora, who sank the jumper with seven seconds remaining.

St. Charles tried to answer, but Riverside stopped the attempt with a steal and won the game. Nora led the scoring with 19 points.

Chari Julien finished with seven.

The Rebels (14-10) defeated Houma Christian, 53-34, on Thursday. They close out the regular season Friday at West St. John.

Riverside will go into the playoffs without shooting guard Ja’Keyra Gautreaux, who injured her knee last week.

St. Charles Catholic

The Lady Comets are still reeling from last week’s heartbreaking loss to Riverside.

St. Charles Catholic led to the very end — until the Rebels’ Nora scored in the finals seconds to give Riverside the 34-33 win.

Despite the loss, Comets coach Kim Nunez called it the best game her team played all season.

“I am very proud of our girls,” she said.

“We had a game plan and we stuck to it. Nora made a great shot with three of our players in her face to take the lead. I tip my hat to Riverside for not giving up, even though (they trailed) most of the game. If you weren’t at SCC (that night), you missed an awesome basketball game.”

Caroline Julian led the Comets with 16 points. Lela Hill finished with 9.

St. Charles Catholic came back Thursday to take a 41-31 win over St. Mary’s Academy. Despite a scoreless first quarter and despite trailing through three quarters, the Comets rallied for the win.

Hill led the scoring with 16 points. Pylar Zeringue finished with 10 points, Jori Bryant finished with seven points.

The Comets (16-11) close out the season Thursday at home against St. Martin’s.

West St. John

There has been good news and bad news for the Lady Rams.

The bad news is Lakendra Lewis is lost for the rest of the season. She tore her ACL on Jan. 22 in a win over St. Charles Catholic.

The good news is the Lady Rams are the District 12-2A champions.

West St. John (16-7) clinched the title Friday with a 42-21 win over Country Day.

Maya Trench and Jaquana Hunter both scored 14.

West St. John set up its title run with a 53-31 win over St. Mary’s on Feb. 2. Trench led the scoring with 24 points. Hunter scored 12.

Stevante Hamilton, who has been called upon to replace the injured Lewis, finished with eight points.