Lady Cats open district with win

PORT BARRE – The Eunice High Lady Bobcats opened District 5-3A play with a 52-33 victory over the Port Barre Lady Red Devils here Friday night at the Port Barre gym.
Coach Wayne Fontenot’s Lady Bobcats improved to 8-9 overall with the win. Port Barre dropped to 3-8 overall with the loss.
The Lady Cats survived a slow start as Port Barre dominated the early going to take a 7-0 lead with 4:57 left in the first quarter. A drive by Shay Vigers at the 4:35 mark gave the Lady Cats their first points of the game, but the Lady Red Devils responded with a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 16-2.
Vigers stopped the scoring run with a short jumper at the 2:20 mark before Stacie White drove for a basket and Aisha Ledet nailed a 3-point goal to cut the Port Barre lead to 16-9 by the end of the quarter.
Coach Fontenot felt that it took some time for his team to get into the game. “We weren’t aggressive early and they hit some wide open three-point shots in that first quarter.”
Fontenot decided to put pressure on the ball in the second quarter and the aggressive defensive approach helped turn the game around. “We picked up the tempo and they struggled in the second quarter.”
The Lady Cats scored the first two points of the second quarter on free throws by White and Shania Malveaux to cut the lead to 16-11. Port Barre’s India Savoie countered with two free throws to put the Lady Red Devils up 18-11, but that would be the only points for Port Barre in the quarter as the Lady Bobcats went on an 18-0 run over the final six minutes of the quarter for a 29-18 halftime lead.
The run began with a 3-point field goal from Shania Malveaux and Vigers would add nine points during the run. White contributed five points and Ledet had two points to help the Lady Cats take the 11-point lead.
White opened the third quarter with two free throws to extend the Eunice lead to 31-18, but a three-point goal by Skylar Boast made it 31-21.
The Lady Cats responded with Malveaux hitting a field goal after a pass from Vigers. Skylar Ardoin followed with a drive to the basket to push the Eunice lead to 35-21 with 3:24 left in the quarter. Malveaux, White, and Ledet would each add field goals to help the Lady Cats take a 41-25 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Port Barre would score eight points in the final quarter, but the Lady Cats would seal the victory by scoring 11 points.
White and Vigers would lead the Eunice girls in scoring with 17 and 16 points apiece. Malveaux added 10 points and Ledet had seven. Skylar Boast topped the scoring for Port Barre with 12 points. Tarynn Campbell had nine and Kristen Thomas had eight for the Lady Devils.
The Lady Bobcats will host Pine Prairie on Tuesday before travelling to Ville Platte on Friday to continue district action.