By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

East St. John had lost a number of very close games before this year, but Monday’s 56-55 home loss to South Lafourche may have been the toughest to swallow.

The Lady Wildcats came back from eight points down in the fourth quarter to draw within one after Christin Hildreth scored and drew a foul on a putback late in the fourth quarter. Hildreth converted the foul shot.

On the other end, Hildreth blocked a shot to set up East St. John (10-6) for a chance to win the game. She came up big again, coming down with a big offensive board and drawing another foul with one second remaining.

But she couldn’t capitalize on either shot, and South Lafourche (10-5) survived.

“It was a hell of a war, back and forth the entire game,” said East St. John Coach Troy Giordano. “It’s just hard to lose another close one.”

Mechelle Thomas and Halle Lennix led the team with 15 points each. Hildreth added 11 points and 15 rebounds.

South Lafourche led by as many as ten points in the second half. East St. John’s biggest lead in the game was seven, in the first quarter.

Lennix hit five threes in the game, and has been one of a number of freshman contributors all season on the Wildcats young roster.

“(South Lafourche) is a veteran team, they’ve played together for years,” said Giordano. “We start two freshman, a sophomore, a junior and a senior. It could have went either way. These kids fought hard, I couldn’t ask for more than what they gave me.”