MICHAEL KIRAL

ESJ advances to Sweet 16 for first time

PHOTO: EAST ST. JOHN’S KINYA LENNIX drives in on East Ascension’s Valencia LeBlanc during the first quarter Thursday night. (Staff Photo by Michael Kiral) GONZALES – Before East St. John’s first playoff game against Higgins last Thursday, Lady Cats head coach Troy Giordano called his seniors into his office and told them they needed to step even more in the postseason. Those three seniors – Kinya Lennix, Danielle Stemley and Velinda Ard – did just that at East Ascension Thursday night in the Class 5A quarterfinals, leading the Lady Cats to their first ever Sweet 16 Tournament with a 56-52 victory. East St. John (32-3 on the season) will play Ruston in the semifinals at Southeastern Louisiana University next week. Ruston upset No. 1-ranked Southwood, 63-61, in double overtime Thursday. East St. John becomes the first River Parishes team since Hahnville in 1988 to make it to the Sweet 16. No River Parishes team has ever advanced to the finals. Lennix, who finished with a game-high 24 points, and Stemley both hit two free throws in the final 28 seconds and Ard delivered two clutch put backs early in the fourth quarter to lead the Lady Cats to Hammond. “The seniors stepped up big,” Giordano said. “Kinya and Danielle hit the free throws and Velinda had two or three put backs. In the fourth quarter when everybody was nervous, the seniors stepped up big.” Freshman Kojavona Hamilton contributed 13 points for the Lady Cats. Ard and Stemley had seven points apiece. East Ascension (25-6) was led by Sherrl Andrews with 17 points. Valencia LeBlanc added 11 points and Tia Lawson and Nateisha Silby eight apiece. East Ascension took a 42-40 lead on the opening possession of the fourth quarter on a pass from Andrews to LeBlanc. East St. John came back to take a 46-42 lead on a put back by Ard. The Lady Spartans tied the game on a drive by Andrews off a steal before Ard came up with another put back to make it 48-46 with four minutes to play. East Ascension took its final lead of the game at 49-48 on a jumper by Kimberly Kelson with 2:48 and had the ball with two minutes to play. But Courtney Drayton came up with a steal underneath and Lennix capitalized with a jumper from the left side, giving the Lady Cats the lead with 1:44 left. Following a rebound by Ard, Stemley hit a running jumper in the lane to make it 52-49 with 1:11 left. Silby hit two free throws to pull East Ascension to within one with 1:02 left but Stemley came back with two of her own to make it 54-51 with 28 seconds left. Lennix then stole a pass by Silby on the next possession and was fouled, hitting both free throws to make it 56-51 with 17 seconds remaining. Silby made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left but Ard rebounded the second and quickly passed to Lennix. Lennix then found Drayton who was fouled with one second remaining. “I told the players, if we get down, don’t panic,” Giordano said. “We knew it was going to be close. We’ve played a lot of tough games so I knew we wouldn’t break.” East St. John took a 28-24 lead into halftime and led 34-28 early in the third quarter on two free throws by Lennix. East Ascension pulled to within one on a pass from Andrews to Kelson. After a put back by Hamilton, Silby tied the game at 38 on a 3-pointer from the right side. Hamilton regained the lead for the Lady Cats with a drive but Joy McMellen hit a jumper to tie it at 40 going into the fourth quarter. East St. John rallied from a 4-0 deficit early with a 10-1 run. Lennix scored the first six points of the run, Ard followed with a drive off a pass from Stemley and Erin Keller hit a jumper to make it 10-5. East Ascension pulled to within two on a jumper by LeBlanc but Lennix came back with a drive and a jumper to make it 15-9. A drive by Hamilton and a jumper by Lennix made it 19-11 at the end of the first quarter. East St. John took its biggest lead at 24-13 midway through the second quarter as Hamilton was fouled on a jumper and converted the free throw. A jumper by Andrews cut the deficit to six but Stemley answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 27-18 with 1:11 left. A drive by Keiroplyn Andrews cut the lead to 28-22 at the half.