MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 23, 1998

DESTREHAN – St. Charles Catholic, shaking off the effects of limitedpractice time, came away with a 31-25 victory over Fortier in the first game of the KFC/Taco Bell Destrehan Lady Cat Classic Wednesday afternoon.

St. Charles Catholic, 1-1 on the season, advanced to play HahnvilleSaturday at 10:45 a.m. The winner will play Destrehan in the finals.Fortier, 0-3, will play against Carver at 9:45 a.m. Saturday.Marci Martin and Sarah Weber each had six points for the Lady Comets.

Abby Howard added five points while Krista Danos and Krista Haydel contributed four points apiece.

Fortier’s Melika Lewis led all scorers with 10 points. Keyanna McDanielscontributed five points while Jovanna Lewis tossed in four.

St. Charles Catholic’s involvement in the state football, cross country andvolleyball playoffs limited the amount of practice they have had over the last week and the rustiness showed early on.

The game remained scoreless until the 5:57 mark when Danos scored on a put back. Monique Johnson took a pass inside from Elisa Glenn to tie thescore but the Lady Comets came back with a jump shot by Weber and a put back by Shannon Dolive to take a 6-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Fortier took a 7-6 lead on a put back by McDaniels and a layup by Melika Lewis. St. Charles Catholic took the lead for good on put backs by Howardand Martin.

Opal McDuffie cut the deficit to 11-10 by bouncing in a 3-pointer before Martin hit a jump shot from the free throw line to give the Lady Comets a three-point lead at the half.

St. Charles Catholic pulled out to a 17-12 lead in the third quarter on aput back by Weber and a jump shot by Martin. The lead grew to 20-14 on ajump shot by Weber before Fortier closed to within two at the end of the quarter on a put back by Jovanna Lewis and a jump shot by Melika Lewis.

The Lady Comets opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to take a double-digit lead. Jump shots by Melissa Billings and Howard and four freethrows by Haydel made it 28-18 with 4:15 remaining.

Fortier rallied to within five with 2:12 left on two free throws by Melika Lewis and a 3-pointer by McDaniels. But the Lady Comets were able to holdoff the Lady Tarpons as Danos and Billings hit free throws down the stretch.

“I am not expecting a lot yet because we have not had much time together,” St. Charles Catholic coach Jeff Montz said. “As long as we hustle and play together as a team, that is what I am looking for. We are looking to improve every game. We just need to be onthe court and we do play a lot of games over the next two weeks. As soonas we get everybody back, we will jell.”

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