MICHAEL KIRAL

LAPLACE – Kaneeka Taylor tossed in 29 points to lead Lutcher to a 61-35 victory at St. Charles Catholic in District 9-3A play Tuesday evening. The Lady Bulldogs improved to 12-16 overall and 2-1 in district play. St. Charles Catholic fell to 3-16 on the season and 0-2 in district. Jauntrell Williams, Javonne Ross and Taleisha Jacque each added six points for Lutcher. Jenna Oncale and Heather Heltz led St. Charles Catholic with eight points apiece. Amanda Helm chipped in with seven. Lutcher forced eight Lady Comet turnovers, including six steals, to take a 14-5 first quarter lead. Williams grabbed a steal and found Taylor driving in and Taylor followed with a layup off another steal to make it 6-0 with 6:08 left in the first quarter. After Taylor banked in a jumper, Heltz got the Lady Comets on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer from the left side with 3:43 left. Lutcher answered as Jacque banked in a jumper and Taylor took a steal in for a 14-3 lead. Brittany Vicknair found Kelly Cupit inside at the buzzer to cut the deficit to nine at the end of the first quarter. Lutcher kept the pressure up in the second quarter as Taylor took two steals in to build the lead to 20-9 with 4:57 remaining in the half. Taylor and Ross tossed in jumpers and Jennifer Detillier drove in off steal to give the Lady Bulldogs a 28-15 halftime lead. “Because they are a young team, we knew we had to apply pressure,” Lutcher head coach Janie Ryland said. “We did some different things they hadn’t seen yet to mix it up. We had a lot of fundamental errors and are still trying to get them out. But overall, we played fairly well as a team.” Oncale hit a jumper from the free throw line to make it 30-17 early in the third quarter. Lutcher then went on a 15-0 run to build a 28-point lead. Taylor got the run started with a 3-pointer from the left wing on the next possession and later added two layups off steals. Williams had a jumper roll in, then grabbed a rebound on the defensive end of the court and found Taylor driving in for a 45-17 lead. Oncale hit two free throws and nailed a jumper from the right side to make it 49-25 heading into the fourth quarter. Helm buried a jumper from the right side, then scored on a put back to cut the deficit to 20 early in the fourth quarter. A layup by Abby Forsythe off a steal by Heltz made it 51-31. But Lutcher came back with put backs by Renee Williams, Brittany Somrow and Brandi Derbigny to take a 57-33 lead with 1:49 left.