District 5-3A race comes down to final night

Posted February 8th, 2010

The District 5-3A title is up for grabs tonight.

Perhaps it’s fitting that with such a tough district going in, four teams have been in and out of the top 10 most of the season; however, the race will come down to the final night.

Two of those teams, the No. 6 Abbeville Lady Wildcats and the Kaplan Lady Pirates, both enter tonight’s regular season finales with matching 7-2 league marks. As far as that tie goes, things will be sorted out tonight.

The Lady Wildcats will travel to Rayne, while Kaplan will hit the road for Crowley to face Notre Dame. A win from both teams means a share of the league title. A loss from one and a win by the other means a stand-alone champ.

The Lady Pirates (18-12) actually made tonight’s intrigue possible after they held serve at their home court last Friday in the form of a 46-42 win over Abbeville. They have a tough chore ahead of them as they travel to Crowley to take on an 18-win Notre Dame team.

“It’s going to be tough,” Kaplan head coach Paula Lee said about Notre Dame after Friday’s win over Abbeville, a win Lee called the Lady Pirates’ biggest of the season.

But Lee also explained that her team needed to quickly put that game in the rearview and prepare for the Lady Pios.

“It think they are ready,” Lee said. “They are aware of the opportunity they have in front of them.

“And they are having fun with it.”

Leading the way for the Lady Pirates is Tina Roy, who has averaged 24 points and 17 rebounds in nine district games. Taylor Choate is second on team with 8.7 points and 3.6 boards per game.

The Lady Wildcats will be without one of their top offensive contributors, point guard Derrian Gaspard, who is out with an injury.

Wayna Briggs filled in against Kaplan with 11 points. Fellow freshman, Jasmine Dozier, took the ball-handling duties and added 10 points Friday.

Abbeville head coach Ashley Broussard said after the game Friday that there’s one focus for her team tonight, and that’s not worrying about what Kaplan’s doing.

“We are going to be focused on Rayne,” Broussard said. “Then will go from there.”