By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

EDGARD – A fourth quarter scoring drought and a late rash of turnovers doomed West St. John as White Castle defeated the Rams for the second time this year, taking a 48-44 victory on the road.

White Castle beat WSJ 46-42 at White Castle on Jan. 11. The Bulldogs have clinched the District 8-1A championship.

“It’s always tough to come here and play,” said White Castle coach Tammy Pierce. “We knew it would be whether we were 8-0 or 4-4 in district. They get riled up over here. We knew we had to play our style and not get caught up in it.”

Said West St. John coach Lester Smith: “We turned it over too many times in the last two minutes. Things we normally don’t do. We just didn’t execute like you need to execute if you’re going to beat a White Castle.”

A mad scramble of a finish left Bulldogs fans elated and Rams fans dejected as both teams had multiple chances to gain the upper hand.

After Deja Feist’s basket in the lane put West St. John (19-5, 7-3) ahead 38-31 late in the third quarter White Castle began to make a push. Skylar O’Bear made a pair of free throws to make it a 5-point game, then Ronquell Gibson cut the lead to three early in the fourth with two more from the foul line. She converted a putback to make it 38-37, then tied the game at 38 when she made 1-of-2 with 6:36 left in the final period.

“(We knew we had to get the ball in (Gibson’s) hands,” said Pierce. “She’s our best ball-handler. Once she got it going, her leadership lifted everyone.”

Jaylin Gordon put WSJ back up 40-38 with two free throws, but Drusilla Robinson answered for White Castle with a putback on a miss.

Gordon stole the ball and found Jasmine Young for a basket to make it 42-40, then JuJuan Nicholas extended the lead to three with a foul shot. She’d miss her second but Young gathered in the rebound for West St. John, which called time out. But White Castle stole the inbounds pass and Robinson scored again to make it 43-42. White Castle notched another steal and this one resulted in the lead as Gibson scored again on a layup.

West St. John couldn’t convert on its next possession and suffered a major loss as Gordon fouled out as White Castle brought the ball into the lane for a shot attempt.

“That really hurt us on the last couple of possessions,” said Smith.

White Castle missed both shots with 34 seconds left but West St. John couldn’t answer and Bryanshel Gibson scored on a putback with 24 seconds left to make it 46-43.

Donasia Bell was fouled with 13.5 seconds left and made one-of-two at the line. She’d miss the second and the two teams scrambled for the ball, with it going out of bounds off of the Rams with 5.3 seconds left. West St. John had a near steal on the inbounds, but the Bulldogs broke the press and scored an uncontested layup at the other end to cap a four-point win.

Gordon scored a game-high 20 points, 11 coming in the first quarter. Young scored 11.

For White Castle, Gibson led the way with 18.

West St. John led by as many as 11 in the second half. The Rams led 28-23 at halftime.