MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 21, 1999

DESTREHAN – The championship game of the KFC/Taco Bell Lady Cats Classic will have a familiar look to it this afternoon.

For the second straight season, St. Charles Parish cross-parish rivalsDestrehan and Hahnville will play for the tournament title. Destrehanadvanced with a 60-33 victory over Carver Thursday evening while Hahnville moved on with a 38-30 win over St. Charles Catholic. In thetournament’s inaugural title game last season, Destrehan defeated Hahnville, 62-50.

Tip-off for this year’s title game is scheduled for 5 p.m. St. CharlesCatholic will play Carver in the third place game at 3 p.m. West St. John,which defeated Fortier, 57-44, Thursday, will play St. James in theconsolations at 1 p.m.In Thursday’s late game, Carver (1-1) could not handle the Destrehan (1-1) press, turning the ball over 28 times, including 10 times in the first quarter as Destrehan took a 10-4 lead.

The Lady Cats scored off the opening tip as Ashley Sentimore grabbed the ball, passed to Diamonique Pollard who found Quinino Sinceno underneath.

Megan Stock gave the Lady Cats the lead for good with two free throws and then took a steal in to make it 8-4. Another steal by Stock and a passto Maren Cameron on the break made it a six-point game.

Carver pulled to within 11-9 early in the second quarter on a jumper and a 3-pointer from the left corner by Brandy Simmons. But Joevone Markeyanswered two possessions later with a turnaround jumper and Stock followed with a steal and pass to Sentimore to build the lead to 16-9.

After a steal and layup by Cameron, Stock buried a 3-pointer from the right side to make it a 10-point contest.

A layup by Jezreel Charles off a pass from Stock after a rebound by Sinceno gave the Lady Cats a 30-12 lead. Stock then put up a shot frommidcourt that hit its mark but was ruled to have been after the buzzer sounded, leaving the score 30-12 at the half.

Carver rallied to within 31-20 early in the third quarter as Simmons grabbed a steal and passed to Keva Barrow and then took another steal in herself. But again it was Markey who answered for the Lady Cats, taking apass from Stock inside. Markey then took another pass from Stock on thebreak and was fouled on the layup, completing the three-point play to make it 36-22.

Markey was not finished yet, hitting a turnaround jumper in the lane off a pass from Cameron. Markey then grabbed a rebound and found Stockdowncourt, building the lead to 40-22. A jumper in the lane by JasmoneHawkins made it 42-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

Destrehan built a 30-point lead midway through the fourth quarter on a layup by Sentimore. Carver could not pull any closer than 25 after that ona 3-pointer and a layup off a steal by Simmons.

Markey led the Lady Cats with 16 points. Stock added 14 points withSentimore contributing eight points. Simmons paced Carver with 16 pointswhile Barrow tossed in five.

Earlier in the day, Hahnville held off a second-half rally by St. CharlesCatholic to move to the championship game. The Tigers (2-0) jumped outto a 10-4 lead in the first quarter on a layup and put-back by Toyelle Rickson and a jumper by Cashmir White.

The Lady Comets (1-2) pulled to within 10-8 at the end of the quarter on a jumper by Nicole Scontrino and a layup at the buzzer by Liz Dufresne off of passes by Scontrino and Abby Howard.

Hahnville then outscored the Lady Comets 9-1 in the second quarter to take a 19-9 halftime lead.

Jetaime Gordon scored the quarter’s first points at the five minute mark on a put back. Put backs by Rickson and Alana Lumar made it 19-8 beforethe Lady Comets broke their scoreless spell on a free throw by Amanda Helm with 20 seconds left.

Hahnville built its biggest lead of the contest at 23-9 on a put back by White early in the third quarter. Dufresne then started the Lady Comets’comeback, putting back a shot and following with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 23-14.

Rickson built the lead back to 10 with two free throws before Marci Martin came back to hit three of four free throws over the next two possessions to make it 25-18. Scontrino then took a steal in, making it afive-point game heading into the final eight minutes.

St. Charles Catholic pulled to within 26-23 on two free throws by SarahWeber and one by Howard. But Rickson answered for the Lady Tigers withtwo free throws and then took a pass from Lumar inside to make it 30-23.

After two free throws each by Renelle Fields and White, Martin found Dufresne downcourt to make it 34-27 with 2:03 left. But Fields and Lumareach made free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Rickson tossed in 15 points to lead the Lady Tigers while White contributed 11 points. Dufresne led St. Charles Catholic with 12 points.In the first game of the day, West St. John (1-1) broke a 21-all tie athalftime with an 18-9 run in the third quarter on its way to its win over Fortier (1-2).

The Lady Rams took a lead early in the second quarter on a put back by Janelle Morris and Kita Harry and a layup by Harry off a pass from Julia Roussel. Two layups by Malika Lewis put Fortier up 21-19 with a minuteleft in the half before West St. John tied the game on put backs by CiarraBorne and Ireon Bethancourt.

A 3-pointer by Kayon Weber put the Lady Rams ahead to stay at the 4:15 mark of the third quarter. Bethancourt then converted on a three-pointplay and took a steal in to held the Lady Rams to a 39-30 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Fortier pulled to within 51-42 in the final quarter on a drive by Lewis but Bethancourt answered with two jump shots and a put back.

Bethancourt finished with a game-high 29 points. Harry and Roussel eachchipped in seven points. Brandi Purnell led Fortier with 12 points whileLewis had 10.

In first day action Wednesday, Hahnville defeated West St. John, 66-21.Rickson led Hahnville with 22 points while Fields and Karen Bass had 10 points apiece. Harry led West St. John with six points.St. Charles Catholic defeated Fortier, 68-48, behind a 30-point effort byDufresne. Martin contributed 12 points. Carver opened the tournament witha 57-47 victory over St. James.

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