MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / January 20, 1999

LAPLACE – St. Charles Catholic overcame a cold spell in the fourth quarterand a run by West St. John to hold off the Lady Rams in District 9-2A playFriday night, 56-43.

St. Charles Catholic improved to 10-16 overall and 2-0 in district play.West St. John fell to 7-7 overall and 1-1 in District 9-2A.The Lady Comets took a 50-36 lead with at the 2:30 mark of the third quarter on a put back by Jennifer Pollet but then went scoreless over the next nine minutes. West St. John started to rally, pulling to within 12 atthe end of the third quarter as Crystal Stipe rifled a pass to Janoll Morris underneath.

The Lady Rams continued to pull closer as the fourth quarter opened. IreonBethancourt scored on a turnaround jumper on the right baseline and Niesha Green on a follow up to make it 50-42 with 6:30 left. But after afree throw by Donyell Stipe, the Lady Rams also went cold, going scoreless over the final 6:18.

St. Charles Catholic then held off the Lady Rams at the free throw line.Shannon Dolive broke the scoreless spell with a free throw with 1:34 left and Pollet made the front ends on two trips to the free throw line. On thesecond trip, Pollet grabbed the rebound after the missed free throw and tossed in a jump shot to make it 55-43 with 30 seconds left.

The Lady Comets started the game hot from the field. Liz Dufresne openedthe contest with two 3-pointers from the left side to give the Lady Comets a 6-0 lead. After a jump shot by Green from the right baseline,Dolive and Marci Martin scored on put backs to make it 10-2.

Crystal Stipe brought the Lady Rams to within 14-8 on a layup and two free throws before Dufresne answered with her third 3-pointer from the left side. A jump shot by Amy Bourgeois and a put back by Dolive gave theLady Comets a 25-10 lead after the first quarter.

Consecutive jump shots by Martin and a put back by Dolive gave St. CharlesCatholic its biggest lead at 32-14 midway through the second quarter.

West St. John started its rally as Bethancourt chased down a long inboundspass from Hillary Howard to cut the deficit to 15. Bethancourt thengrabbed a defensive rebound and took it in to make it 32-19 with 3:03 left in the half.

Dufresne came back with a 3-pointer from the right arc with Stipe answering with a jump shot from the right baseline, two free throws and a layup to bring the Lady Rams to within 37-25. Krista Danos and Greentraded free throws to make it 38-26 at the half.

Dufresne and Stipe went back to work as the third quarter started with both hitting jump shots to make it 40-30. A put back by Danos and a layupby Dufresne off a bounce pass from Martin gave the Lady Comets a 44-30 lead midway through the quarter. After a jump shot by Stipe, Dolive andDonyell Stipe traded put backs to make it 48-36 with 2:40 left.

Dufresne, playing in her second game since missing time with a back injury, led all scorers with 24 points, 13 in the first quarter.

“I was pumped up,” Dufresne said of her play at the beginning of the game.

“I was ready to play. I think the team was ready for everybody to comeback.”Dolive tossed in nine points with Pollet and Martin each chipping in with six points for the Lady Comets.

Crystal Stipe led the Lady Rams with 23 points. Bethancourt added 10points.

“We dug a hole early in the game,” West St. John coach Lester Smith said.”We got to within five and got in a cold spell. But the kids played prettyhard. They didn’t quit.”St. Charles Catholic coach Jeff Montz said the same thing about his team.Besides Dufresne, the Lady Comets have suffered injuries to other starters during pre-district play.

“We hung in there,” Montz said. “I believe the struggles we had helpedmade us better. We are more of a team. Everybody contributes. They havemade adjustments to all of the adversity and I couldn’t be prouder of the way we have handled it.”

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