MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / Febuary 3, 1999

EDGARD – St. Charles Catholic moved closer to wrapping up at least athird-place finish in District 9-2A, holding off a West St. John rally in thefinal three minutes for a victory Tuesday night.

The Lady Comets (13-18, 5-2) hold a 2 1/2 game lead over West St. John(8-10, 2-4) and swept the season series with the Lady Rams. St. CharlesCatholic traveled to Ridgewood last night before hosting St. Martin’sTuesday and Riverside Friday.

“Any time you can win on the road, you have to be happy,” St. CharlesCatholic coach Jeff Montz said. “I told the girls we have put ourselves in areal good position with two of our final three games at home. We have toplay them one at a time and hope for the best. We have to play well downthe stretch.”Tuesday’s game was close throughout with neither team able to take more than an eight-point lead through the first three quarters. St. CharlesCatholic was finally able to get a little breathing room as Shannon Dolive found Felicia Farlough inside to make it 40-29 with 3:16 left.

West St. John began to pull back into the game as Crystal Stipe rifled apass inside to Hillary Howard to make it 40-32 with 1:24 left. IreonBethancourt then grabbed a steal inside and was fouled, hitting two free throws.

After a held ball went West St. John’s way, Kimiko Gauthier scored on aput back to make it 40-36. After Liz Dufresne missed the front end of aone-and-one, Howard was fouled after taking a pass from Stipe inside and made both free throws, making it a two-point game with 46 seconds left.

Krista Danos was fouled at midcourt on the ensuing possession and made the first of two free throws, giving the Lady Comets a 41-38 lead with 44 seconds left. Marci Martin grabbed Donyell Stipe’s missed 3-point attemptand was fouled and made one of two free throws. Dolive then was fouledwhile pulling down a missed 3-pointer by Crystal Stipe and also made the second of two free throws, making it 43-38 with 21 seconds left.

Dolive led the Lady Comets with 14 points. Dufresne added 11 points whileMartin tossed in seven points.

Crystal Stipe paced the Lady Rams with eight points. Howard contributedseven points with Bethancourt, Gauthier and Jurita Julien chipped in with six points apiece.

West St. John tied the game at 21 with 6:55 left in the third quarter on adrive by Donyell Stipe. St. Charles Catholic answered with a 10-4 run toclose out the period. Martin hit a jumper from the left baseline and Dolivescored on a put back to make it 25-21.

Dolive then grabbed a rebound and found Dufresne downcourt to make it a six-point game. A jumper by Dufresne from the left corner gave the LadyComets an 31-23 lead before Julien closed out the scoring in the quarter with a jumper from the right side.

Another jumper by Julien from the top of the key brought the Lady Rams to within 33-29 with six minutes left. The Lady Comets responded withseven unanswered points. After a free throw by Dolive, Farlough grabbed adefensive rebound and found Dufresne deep. Two free throws by Farloughmade it 38-29 with 4:12 left.

St. Charles Catholic took a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter asDanos found Dufresne inside. West St. John came back to take a 13-10 leadearly in the second quarter on a jumper by Bethancourt and a steal and layup by Crystal Stipe. Dufresne tied the score with a 3-pointer and gavethe Lady Comets the lead for good with a jumper from the free throw line.

Abby Howard built the lead to 19-13 with a put back before Donyell Stipe came back with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. A jump shot by Julienmade it 21-19 at the half.

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