By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — Riverside emerged from a two-week holiday break by splitting a pair of non-district games, topping Country Day at home 30-24 but falling on the road to Houma Christian 51-49.

Against Country Day (5-4), an 11-2 scoring margin in the third quarter paced the Rebels in what was a tight, defensive game throughout. Riverside led 13-12 at halftime.

Ja’Keyra Gautreaux led the Rebels (12-4) with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals. Kennedy White scored seven points and Briley Becker added six.

The game boasted a coaching matchup between Riverside coach Kathy Luke and Country Day coach Lanie Griffin, the latter a former assistant coach under Luke.

“They had a good gameplan,” Luke said. “They had us well-scouted. In the third quarter, we started executing better. We were taking higher percentage shots and stopped turning the ball over so much. Once we settled down, we were able to pull away.”

Against Houma Christian (16-5), Riverside led by 11 with four minutes left, but a pressing Warriors defense forced a slew of turnovers and helped key a 24-13 scoring advantage for Houma Christian in the fourth quarter, and a rally down the stretch.

Kennedy White scored 19 points and had three steals for Riverside. Gautreaux scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Dannecia Nora scored nine and had five rebounds.

Gautreaux fouled out with 4:50 remaining, leaving the Rebels with a dearth of ballhandlers to handle the defensive pressure.

“We had three kids with four fouls at that point,” Luke said. “With Ja’Keyra on the bench, our inexperience in those situations ended up being what cost us. We couldn’t handle their press. Give Houma Christian credit for making that comeback.”

The Rebels have been dealing with some injury issues, particularly on the interior. Most notably, after a hot start, center Dannecia Nora has been playing at less than 100 percent.

“We haven’t been at full speed the last few days,” Luke said. “Hopefully that changes going forward.”

Riverside returns to action today when it travels to Ridgewood to face Haynes at 6 p.m. Haynes is playing its home games at Ridgewood due to its gym being currently unable to host games.