By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — Kennedy White’s 20 points and four steals helped keep Riverside afloat Monday night, but the Rebels ultimately fell at home to Houma Christian, 49-46.

Dannecia Nora and Briley Becker each scored nine points for the Rebels. Ja’Keyra Gautreaux scored eight while grabbing 11 rebounds.

Houma Christian outscored Riverside 16-5 in the third quarter to take control of the game, and led 39-33 entering the fourth.

The Rebels will be trying to regroup next week — the final week of the regular season — after two straight losses. Coach Kathy Luke says it starts with making stops consistently.

“Our defense has been letting us down,” she said. “We’ve been allowing more points than we generally have this season. It just hasn’t been what we need it to be.

“We need to improve in that aspect. We need to do a better job protecting the ball, making our free throws and rebounding. Right now, we’re struggling in those areas.”

Dionjhae Thomas scored 13 points in the third quarter to give the Warriors lift.

“She really took over for them,” Luke said. “We never really got it back after that.”

St. James downed RA last week, 44-40, in district action.

This time, it was the fourth quarter that proved damaging to Riverside, as SJH outscored RA 18-12 in the final frame.

“We were ahead by four in the fourth, but we couldn’t hold on,” Luke said. “We didn’t take care of the ball.”

Gautreaux scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Nora scored 10 points and had 11 rebounds.

The two teams split in the regular season, and if the remainder of district play holds form, the teams could face off in a district playoff to decide the 8-2A champion.

With just a few games remaining, Luke said she gave her players a little reprieve at practice, feeling the Rebels may have “lost their legs” from running.

“We’ve been shooting around, trying to regroup physically,” she said.