By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

East Ascension made a big fourth quarter push, but East St. John kept its playoff hopes alive Tuesday night with a 46-38 win at East Ascension.

Kemyra Arvie led the Wildcats (14-13, 5-4) with 12 points and teammate Brianne Brown scored 11.

Symone Miller led the Spartans with 16 points.

The Wildcats built a 21-point lead entering the fourth quarter thanks largely to a suffocating effort in the third – East St. John outscored East Ascension 15-3 in the period.

“Defensively, we were very tough,” said East St. John coach Jackson Manuel. “We rebounded it well, and we took intelligent shots. We played a little triangle and two that bothered them.”

But the Spartans (2-19, 0-9) pushed back in the fourth, outscoring the Ladycats 20-7. Miller led the charge, scoring 12 of her 16 points in the final frame.

“We really tanked it in the fourth,” said Manuel. “All of the great things we did through the first three quarters to get to that point, we negated. It comes back to inconsistency. Their two leading scorers had a combined seven points in three quarters, but in the fourth they scored all 20.”

Manuel credited his guards for opening up the floor for Brown and Arvie, who stepped up to lead the Wildcats in the scoring column, and noted Brown’s strong defensive effort against Miller in the first three quarters.

“She just smothered her,” said Manuel.

East St. John sat at No. 36 in the power rankings prior to Friday night’s season finale in Reserve against Destrehan. It needed a win to qualify for the playoffs. Results will be in the next edition.