By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

West St. John got its highly anticipated girls basketball season off to a tremendous start Monday at the Ellender tournament, downing H.L. Bourgeois, 63-42.

Returning St. John MVP Jaylyn Gordon scored 25 points to lead all scorers. Maya Trench scored 15 and Jujuan Nicholas added 11.

The Rams led 16-11 after the first quarter, but truly pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Braves 35-20 in the third and fourth quarters.

“I thought we played well,” said West St. John coach Lester Smith, who is attempting to lead his team back to the Top 28 tournament after reaching the semifinals a year ago. “We were able to pull away and get 14 kids into the game. I thought we got off to a pretty solid start.”

Smith said that there was a little sloppy play to clean up in the late first and then the second quarter, but that the team did a good job regrouping from there.

He was also pleasantly surprised at the overall offensive output in the season’s first game.

“I didn’t think we’d score 60,” said Smith. “Maybe 40 to 45 … with the amount of practice we’ve had and being this early in the season, I thought we’d take a little time to get to that point.”

He was pleased with the contributions of two of his younger players, Jaquania Hunter, an 8th grader, and Mychelle Lumar, a freshman. Each scored four points in limited minutes.

The Rams return everyone from last year’s state semifinalist.

Monday’s win pushed WSJ into the second round of the tournament. The Rams were set to face Terrebonne Tuesday in the tournament semifinals. A win would mean a berth in today’s championship game, scheduled for noon. A loss would place WSJ in the consolation game at 10:30 a.m.