By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

East St. John ran cold from behind the arc on Monday, and it proved too much for the Wildcats to overcome against a big, physical Ursuline team.

The Ladycats lost for only the eleventh time at home in the tenure of ESJ Coach Troy Giordano, falling 58-50 to the Lions.

No East St. John starter hit a 3-pointer, and the Wildcats hit only two overall. That spelled trouble for a team that relies heavily on outside shooting.

“Nothing fell for us tonight,” Giordano said. “And we were too small to get a rebound on those girls. So that kind of kills you.”

More distressing to Giordano was that the loss represented the fourth in ESJ’s last six games.

“Someone’s gotta get mad about losing. It can’t just be the coach,” he said.

Mechel’le Thomas led the Wildcats with 20 points. Bria Joseph added nine. Wanisha Creecy scored eight.

East St. John (14-6) led 8-7 after a quarter, but wouldn’t lead after that. The Lions outscored ESJ 16-12 in each of the next three quarters, and were able to stifle East St. John’s up-tempo offensive game.

With three minutes left, Ursuline (15-5) led by six, 54-48. The Lions tacked on three more to make it 57-48. Halle Lennix’s layup for the Wildcats made it 57-50 with 55 seconds left. But it was the last ESJ score — despite holding Ursuline to a single point the rest of the way, the team finished 0-3 from 3-point range in the final minute.

“We’re young, we make mistakes,” said Giordano. “Ursuline makes you pay every time. They’re a well-coached team.”

WILDCATS WIN TWO OF THREE AT CHALMETTE TOURNAMENT: East St. John defeated Grace King and Central Lafourche at the Chalmette tournament over the weekend, but didn’t have enough to top the hosting Owls in the round-robin tourney.

On Saturday, Chalmette built a nine point halftime lead, and then stayed ahead by double digits to defeat the Wildcats 55-42.

Hailey Smith led Chalmette with 15 points.

Ciara Augillard led ESJ with 10. Korielle Tucker added nine. Brianne Brown chipped in eight.

On the other hand, ESJ had little trouble dispatching Grace King, winning 51-15. ESJ led 13-2 after a quarter, 25-8 at halftime, and 39-10 after three quarters.

Augillard scored 15 to lead all scorers. Bria Joseph scored 12. Chardey Johnson added 10.

The Wildcats did not finish Central Lafourche quite as easily, but still controlled things from the opening quarter on their way to a 49-29 win.

ESJ opened up an 18 point lead in the third quarter, and coasted from that point.

Thomas led all scorers with 21. Creecy added nine.