By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

West St. John began district play this week, opening with a split.

The Rams defeated Ascension Catholic on Monday, 39-30, but came back to fall Wednesday against East Iberville, 58-38.

Each game was played at West St. John, which opens district play with four consecutive home games.

West St. John coach Lester Smith said that a big key to his team’s victory over Ascension Catholic was the Rams ability to get the ball inside. Kyla Morris did much of the damage in the paint, scoring a team high 13 points.

“Our biggest advantage was in the paint,” said Smith. “Defensively, we pressed them and got out to some easy baskets.”

The Rams and the Bulldogs entered the last quarter tied up, but West St. John won the final period 15-6 to create the nine-point victory margin.

Shantell Pablo chipped in seven points for WSJ.

But as strong a fourth quarter performance as that was, the third quarter was just as damaging to the Rams (7-7, 1-1) two nights later. Trailing 25-18 at halftime, West St. John saw itself outscored 18-6 in the third quarter as the Tigers opened up a 19-point lead.

“We were able to get it inside (Wednesday) too,” said Smith. “But the difference here was we turned it over. We missed a lot of free throws – 16 of them. It was our biggest problem.”

Center Dionickka Calloway scored 16 to lead the Tigers.

“She’s tough around the basket,” said Smith. “I knew we’d have a tough time with them, and she’s a reason for that. That’s an All-District player.”

Still, Smith said he feels the start to district has been a positive one, but at the same time he knows some tough matchups are looming.

We’ve got White Castle and Christian Life coming up, and those are both tough games for us,” said Smith. “Hopefully we can at least come away with a split there.”