Abbeville Lady Wildcats drop first round playoff game

The Abbeville Lady Wildcats fell to the West Feliciana Lady Saints 66-61 in the first round of the Division II Non-Select playoffs Thursday night.
The Lady Cats (17-6) started strong, racing out to a 14-6 lead midway through the opening quarter. Myka Johnson’s jumper in the lane gave Abbeville its biggest lead of the game at 21-12 with 1:28 to play in the first.
That’s when the wheels started to come off for the Lady Cats. D’Jaiyah Levy picked up her third foul and had to exit the game for the remainder of the half.
“We did what we talked about not doing,” said Abbeville head coach Ashly Boudreaux. “We’re rolling, we’re doing a good job, and we had some dumb fouls. We got too frustrated, and it threw us out our game. That hurt us.”
West Feliciana began the second quarter on a 7-0 to tie the game at 22. Nia Darby then went on a 5-0 run with a baseline jumper and a three from the wing to put the Lady Cats back on top 27-22.
The Lady Saints answered with an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 30-29. The two teams traded buckets until Kazley Ficklen drained a three from the wing to give Abbeville a 36-32 halftime lead.
After trading buckets early in the third, West Feliciana scored four-straight points to retake the lead. Darby euro-stepped passed a defender and converted the layup to make the score 40-40 midway through the frame.
Alyria Greene knocked down two free throws to put the Lady Cats back on top 42-40. The Lady Saints answered with a three-ball to go back up 43-42. Back and forth they went before a West Feliciana basket with 12 seconds left gave them a 47-45 advantage after three quarters.
Abbeville began the fourth on a 4-0 run to retake the lead 49-47. The Lady Saints responded with a 5-0 run before Levy drained a corner three to tie the game 52-52 with 6:00 to go.
West Feliciana then went on a 7-0 run to retake the lead for the final time. The Lady Cats couldn’t get any closer than four the rest of the way.
“At the end, there’s a minute left,” Boudreaux said. “I think we shot seven threes and didn’t make any. That’s not us. It just wasn’t our night tonight.”
Darby scored a game-high 19 points for Abbeville. Levy added 12 while Ficklen also finished in double figures with 11. Greene had nine and Johnson had eight.