Lady Cats claim fifth district title at DHS

Published 12:00 am Sunday, February 4, 2001

MICHAEL KIRAL

DESTREHAN – In the locker room before East St. John’s game at Destrehan Tuesday evening, Lady Cats head coach Troy Giordano told his players the District 7-5A championship was right out there for them and that he wanted to order the trophy soon. Giordano can now place that order. East St. John clinched that fifth straight district title with a 62-43 victory, improving to 10-0 in district and 26-3 overall. The Lady Cats hold a three-and-half game lead over Destrehan and Hahnville with three games to go and have swept both of their closest pursuers. Destrehan, 22-8 overall, fell into a second-place tie with Hahnville at 6-3 in the district. The Lady Cats play at Hahnville Tuesday evening. “Defensive pressure,” Giordano said of the difference in the game. “I think our girls just played harder than theirs did. We made the plays when we had to. I told the team at halftime, they are going to make a run at you. When they made that run, we were able to answer.” Kinya Lennix led the way for East St. John with 19 points. Kojavona Hamilton helped out with 12 points while Danielle Stemley and Erin Keller had 11 apiece. “All four of them have been special,” Lennix said of the district championships she has won in her career. “I’m happy we won the district championship but I want to go further.” Destrehan’s Ashley Sentimore led all scorers with 21 points. Joevone Markey tossed in another 12 points and Meagan Stock had six. But East St. John was able to hold Destrehan’s big girls in the first half in jumping out to a 32-15 halftime lead. “We knew they were bigger than us,” Lennix said. “We knew we had to get position. We had to play position basketball.” Neither team could get on the scoreboard until Keller hit two free throws with 5:01 left in the first quarter. A three-point play by Hamilton off a steal by Stemley in the backcourt gave East St. John a 6-0 lead with 3:59 left. Destrehan broke through with 3:42 left on a jumper from the free throw line by Quinina Sinceno. Stemley sandwiched two jumpers around two free throws by Markey and Raeonda Jasper had a 3-pointer bounce in from the right wing to make it 13-5 at the end of the first quarter. East St. John built the lead to 20-7 early in the second quarter as Lennix converted a three-point play off a pass by Stemley. Destrehan rallied to pull to within 20-13 with 4:04 left on a hook shot by Markey, a jumper by Stock and a drive by Sentimore. East St. John answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Stemley with 1:47 left. Lennix then took over, hitting three jumpers on the next four possessions to make it 32-15 at the break. The lead grew to 38-18 with six minutes left in the third quarter as Keller knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner and Lennix scored on a drive. Destrehan responded with a 10-1 run to pull to within 11. Johnniseha Luckett opened the run by scoring off a pass from Stock and Sentimore followed with a short jumper. Iesha Jenkins then hit Stock driving down the lane to make it 39-24 with under four minutes to play. Markey and Sentimore scored with under a minute to play to pull Destrehan to within 39-28. But Courtney Drayton then came up with one of the biggest plays of the game two possessions later, slapping away a pass at midcourt. Stemley chased down the ball near the right sidelines and passed back to Drayton driving in, making it 41-28 going into the fourth quarter. East St. John quickly got the lead up to 17 as the final quarter started as Hamilton hit two free throws and Lennix hooked in a shot. Destrehan could pull no closer than 15 after that. A jumper from the left wing by Whitnee Chatman gave the Lady Cats a 56-36 lead with three minutes to play. “I think in the first quarter we were 5-of-15 from under the goal,” Destrehan head coach Ulysses Frontha said. “That’s 20 points right there we missed. We didn’t play well early. When we got close, they made a basket or we turned it over.”