By Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / January 30, 1998

LAPLACE – The Riverside Lady Rebels overcame a seven-point deficit with3:30 left in the game to defeat St. Charles Catholic, 49-45, in front of acapacity crowd in the Comets gym Tuesday evening.

The victory moved the Lady Rebels into sole possession of second place inDistrict 9-2A with a 4-1 record in district play and a 13-11 recordoverall. St. Charles Catholic is in third place with a 3-2 district recordand a 12-14 record overall. Both teams are chasing Ridgewood, rankedeighth in the state with a 24-6 record and a 5-0 record in district play.

Melissa Martin, the metro area’s leading scorer in Class 2A, had 17 pointsto lead the Lady Rebels. Michelle Millet added 11 points, while JenniferGuidry chipped in with eight.

Kristen Oberschmidt tossed in 16 points to lead the Lady Comets. LizDufresne contributed 10 points, while Melanie Punch provided six.

St. Charles Catholic took a 41-34 lead late in the game as Oberschmidtfollowed her own miss. Millet started the Lady Rebels’ comeback byfinding Amanda Roussel underneath for a layup on Riverside’s followingpossession.

Martin then grabbed a defensive rebound and took it the length of thecourt, cutting the deficit to 41-38 and forcing the Lady Comets to use atimeout with 3:17 left.

Martin tied the game on the Lady Rebels’ next trip down the court with a3-pointer from the right side. Following an offensive foul on the LadyComets, Ashley Bourgeois sank the first of two free throws to give theLady Rebels a 42-41 lead with 2:37 remaining. Bourgeois then grabbed asteal with Martin driving in a for the layup.

After a timeout and a turnover by the Lady Rebels, St. Charles Catholic cutthe deficit to one on a jumper by Marci Martin. Melissa Martin was fouledon Riverside’s ensuing possession and went to the line to shoot two freethrows. She missed both shots but Millet was there to put back the secondone, giving the Lady Rebels a 46-43 lead.After a rebound by Hannah Hobdy, Guidry was fouled and missed both freethrows. But again the Lady Rebels were able to rebound the shot asBourgeois grabbed the ball and passed to Martin underneath. Dufresne then drove the lane to cut the Riverside lead to 48-45 and the Lady Cometscalled a timeout with 30.59 seconds remaining.

Martin was fouled on the Lady Rebels’ possession coming out of thetimeout and again missed both free throws. Lisa Roussel grabbed therebound but her pass downcourt was intercepted by Bourgeois. Guidry thenmade one of two free throws with 8 seconds left to put the game away.”It was not an artistic victory,” Riverside coach John McMillan said. “It all camedown to guts and heart and the girls had a lot of guts and played with a lotof heart. We were fortunate to make the big plays at the end and hang on.

We hung on by the skin of our teeth. “St. Charles Catholic played a tremendous game. They played hard. It wasone of those games where it is a shame someone has to lose. It was not apretty game, but you will not find two teams who work any harder andplay any tougher.”

St. Charles Catholic rallied from a 23-22 halftime deficit to take a three-point lead on baskets by Dufresne and Oberschmidt. Riverside bounced backto retake the lead on a put back and jump shot by Bourgeois. The LadyComets again responded, going on a 10-1 run to end the third quarter. Aput back by Shannon Dolive gave the Lady Comets a 32-30 lead. Dolive thenfollowed with a layup and Oberschmidt added another drive to give St.Charles Catholic the six-point lead heading into the final quarter.

St. Charles Catholic built the lead to seven in the fourth quarter on a freethrow by Nicole Scontrino and a put back by Oberschmidt. Millet hit twofree throws to cut the deficit to 39-34 with under four minutes left.

Riverside used a 9-0 run to take a 13-6 lead late in the first quarter, withbaskets by Martin, Guidry and Hobdy keying the rally. Oberschmidt took apass from Punch underneath to cut the deficit to five at the end of thefirst quarter.

The rally continued into the second quarter as Dolive and Dufresne scoredto give the Lady Comets a 14-13 lead. The lead then bounced back andforth before the Lady Comets jumped out to a 22-17 advantage behind twofree throws by Punch and a jumper by Martin. The Lady Rebels countered by closing out the half with baskets by Milletand Guidry and two free throws by Crystal Rome.

“Riverside made some plays down the stetch and we didn’t,” St. CharlesCatholic coach Jeff Montz said. “I am proud of the way we played tonight.We will come back tomorrow and work hard. We will come back and not liedown.”

Montz said he has seen his team improve by leaps and bounds over lastyear.

“We have had good senior leadership, we had dedication during the summerand we have worked hard,” Montz said. “I feel like we are coming togetheras a team and are believing in each other.”

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