Fowl ending

VILLE PLATTE - It wasn’t the best of endings for two of the parish hoops teams, as the Sacred Heart Lady Trojans and the Pine Prairie Panthers both fell in the annual Sacred Heart Turkey Tournament finals here Wednesday evening.
The Lady Trojans gave an exhilarating performance the entire tournament, especially in the semi-finals on Tuesday. In that game Sacred Heart needed overtime to defeat Oak Hill 46-44.
Unfortunately, the Lady Trojans could not overcome a 10 point first quarter deficit, as they fell to Oakdale 57-37 in the finals.
The Panthers had a tough road to the championship game, as they had to play three times before the finals. Pine Praire took care of Basile, Oak Hill and destroyed South Cameron before facing off against Crowley in the deciding game.
Pine Prairie hung tough against an athletic Gent ball club before succumbing to the Crowley pressure defense in a 70-60 loss.
One bright spot in the tournament came when the Pine Prairie Lady Panthers defeated Oak Hill 48-44 in overtime to win the girl’s consolation trophy.
The Lady Panthers defeated Montgomery in their first game of the tournament, only to lose to eventual champion Oakdale in round two. But, the resilient Pine Prairie squad came back with a win over St. Ed’s before taking on Oak Hill.
Here is a recap of the championship games.

Girl’s Championship
In the final game for the girls, Sacred Heart could not get anything going offensively against Oakdale from the start. The Lady Trojans found themselves down 9-5 at the 5:00 minute mark of the first period, when Sacred Heart’s Catherine Poche hit a bucket from right outside the paint.
However, that would be the last time the Lady Trojans would score in the opening stanza, as Oakdale tacked on six more points to grab a 15-5 lead as the quarter came to a close.
In that period, both teams would be in early foul trouble and Sacred Heart and Oakdale committed four fouls apiece.
The Lady Warriors came out in the second quarter on fire. Using a ton of defensive pressure, Oakdale opened the period on a 8-0 run and effectively put the game away.
Sacred Heart mounted a mini-run of their own, scoring the next eight points, including three-pointers from Andie Landry and Erin Fontenot. But, Oakdale would close out the quarter scoring the last three points of the half to take a 26-13 lead into the locker room.
The third period was a virtual deadlock between the two clubs, as both the Lady Trojans and the Lady Warriors each added 14 points to their total.
The final stanza saw Oakdale take the game over. The Lady Warriors outscored the Lady Trojans 13-3 in the first 5:15 of the fourth quarter and continued to cruise to victory.
The loss was the first for the Lady Trojans as they fall to 4-1 on the season. Sacred Heart will host Menard on Monday. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

Boy’s Championship
It was a closer game in the final of the boy’s bracket. Pine Prairie and Crowley battled the entire game, with the Gents eventually pulling away in the middle of the third quarter.
The first quarter was a testament to the tightness of the contest. After falling behind 5-2 early in the opening stanza, the Panthers went on an 11-5 run and took the lead at the 2:30 mark.
Crowley would not go away easily, outscoring Pine Prairie 7-2 in the closing minutes of the quarter to take a 17-15 lead as the buzzer sounded.
The two teams exchanged the lead several times throughout the second quarter, as Pine Prarie held a 24-22 edge with 6:18 left in the half.
The Gents then proceeded to make a run, scoring the next six points to take a 28-24 lead. That lead would continue to grow, as the defensive pressure from Crowley created a number of Pine Prairie turnovers. By the time the second quarter had ended, the Gents held a 38-32 lead over the Panthers.
The third quarter proved to be the difference in the game. Crowley applied even more pressure on Pine Praire resulting in a 12-0 run for the Gents in the final 3:40 of the period.
The Panthers tried to crawl back into the game in the final quarter, but they could not muster enough offense and they could not keep the Gents from putting up points. In the end it came down to free throws and Crowley did not miss.