RSS Feed

Call it nerves. Call it overconfidence. Whatever it was, it went away in the second half.
The No. 5 Abbeville Wildcats may have come into their first-round game against No. 28 Bogalusa a little overconfident because, at half time, Abbeville was only ahead 30-27.
That Abbeville team who played in the first half stayed in the locker room and never resurfaced in the second half. Instead, the 2019 Wildcat team, who won 20-plus games, made an appearance in the second half and went on to blowout Bogalusa, 77-63.
In the third period, AHS built up as much as a 20-point lead, something they could not do in the first half.
“I can’t tell you what I told them,” said AHS head coach Berwick Hamilton. “I told them we are not playing the way we are capable of playing. We let them hang around.”
That was not the case in the second half.
Four minutes into the third period, Abbeville led 49-33. They outscored Bogalusa 19-3 and put the game away.
“Coach Hamilton told us at the half, we need to play our game,” said senior Tyrese Sam, who finished with 16 points.
In the first half, Bogalusa led and tied the game twice.
“We thought we had the game won before it started,” said Sam. “We were overconfident.”
In did not take Abbeville long to realize, Bogalusa was not going to be an easy opponent. At the start of the second period, AHS was down 14-13.
In the final seconds of the second period, the Wildcats had a chance to push the lead to seven; Instead, however, they committed a turnover, and Bogalusa made two points and went into the locker room down by only three points.
Abbeville’s Walter Baudoin opened the third period with a 3-pointer that got the crowd into the game, and the blowout began. AHS went on an 11-3 run.
AHS point guard Jurvonta Decuir made an NBA three-pointer, the first of his three in the third period, to give AHS its biggest lead, 11 points, at the time.
“I like what I saw in the second half. We won the game in the third quarter,” said Coach Hamilton. “We put some points up, and we played a better third quarter on defense.”
Decuir would finish with 26 points. He scored 16 of his 26 in the second half.
AHS point guard Tarrius Campbell also got hot in the second half. He scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half.
Davontae Promise added nine for AHS.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement Division agents are looking for leads regarding an endangered whooping crane that was shot in Acadia Parish.
The crane was found with a wounded wing on Nov. 2, 2018 between Crowley and Rayne off of Monceaux Rd. The crane was taken to a vet where it had to be put down due to its injuries. The crane was then sent in for a necropsy where it was determined to have been shot in the wing.
Up to $7,500 is being offered by various groups for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the illegal shooting of this whooping crane. LDWF’s Operation Game Thief program, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation and Whooping Crane Conservation Association are each offering a reward of up to $1,000. LDWF also received a total of $4,500 from private donations.
Anyone with information regarding the illegal shooting should call the Louisiana Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-442-2511 or use LDWF’s tip411 program. To use the tip411 program, residents can text LADWF and their tip to 847411 or download the “LADWF Tips” app. The hotline and the tip411 are monitored 24 hours a day. Upon request, informants can remain anonymous.
LDWF with support from partners has released 147 whooping cranes since 2011 to reintroduce the birds to the state. The population is currently estimated to be 76 whooping cranes. This reintroduced population marked the first presence of whooping cranes in the wild in Louisiana since 1950. The crane in this case was released in December of 2016.
Whooping cranes are the most endangered of the world’s crane species. The Louisiana flock is designated as a non-essential, experimental population but is protected under state law, the Endangered Species Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana’s abundant natural resources. For more information, visit us at www.wlf.la.gov.

The Vermilion Catholic Lady Eagles are advancing to the Final Four for the third year in a row after beating St. Mary's 55-47.
The Division IV Final Four will be played in Alexandria. They will play No. 2 Houma Christian, who won 64-24. That game will be played Monday at 4:45 p.m.
It came down to free throw shooting for the Lady Eagles, who were only ahead by two points with a minute to play in the game.
The Lady Eagles made four free throws in the final 32 seconds of the game. Seniors Ainsley Mallet and Jay Demouchet canned the freebies when it counted.
In the fourth quarter, VC made 10 out of 12 free throws. Mallet and Demouchet were a cool 4-for-4 at the charity stripe. Mallet led with 16 points and Demouchet had 15.
In the game, VC made 23 out of 30 free throws.
Kelli Frith finished with eight points.

It is playoff time, and that means only one thing for the Vermilion Catholic Lady Eagles - time to put it in another gear and go.
The Lady Eagles kicked into another gear Monday night and scored 71 points in a second-round win over University Academy of Central Louisiana.
Thursday night at home, the Lady Eagles play St. Mary’s (18-10), a team from the same district as University Academy.
Tip-off is 6:30 p.m. at VC.
The winner of tonight’s game advances to the Final Four of the LHSAA playoffs.
St. Mary’s head coach William Collins, who also coaches the boys’ team, saw the film on VC. His game-plan is simple - try to slow down the high-flying Lady Eagles.
“We are going to try and slow things down,” said Collins. “We want to control the tempo, but with their guards, it is going to be hard.”
The guards whom Collins is referring to are seniors Jay Demouchet and Ainsley Mallet.
Academy’s head coach came in with the game-plan of trying to shut down Mallet. Academy did a great job and held her to only nine points. However, Demouchet had a career night and scored 32 points.
“VC’s guards are so good,” Collins said. “You shut one down, and the other one is going to hurt you. Our girls know what they have to do.”
St. Mary’s beat Academy twice (75-38 and 56-51) this year.
This is the third year St. Mary’s reaches the quarterfinal round. Last year they were knocked out by Houma Christian.
The Lady Eagles will be trying to make their third straight trip to the Final Four. This year’s finals are in Alexandria in the Rapides Coliseum.
The projected lineup for VC is Demouchet, Mallet, Anne Catherine Gallet, Emma Trahan and either Kelli Frith or Kyrah Brailey.
Collins said St. Mary’s starts two juniors, two sophomores, and one freshman.
They have won 12 of their last 14 games.
VC head coach Kim Guidry also watched film on St. Mary’s.
“They are a well-coached team,” she said. “They are a disciplined team that can handle the ball and is also very quick.”