Ville Platte bows out of playoffs with heartbreaking loss

BATON ROUGE – Disappointing, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching.
No matter how you describe it, the Ville Platte Lady Bulldogs’ last-second 54-53 loss to University High here Monday night was indescribable.
With only six tenths of a second left in the contest, University’s Maya Marshall put back up an errant shot that fell through the nets and sealed the win for the Lady Cubs.
With the loss, Ville Platte finishes the season with an overall record of 19-9 and the District 5-3A championship.
“I really thought we were the better team tonight,” stated Ville Platte head coach Dot Doulet. “We had some tough losses down the road when we didn’t play hard enough, but tonight we played hard and gave it all we had. We just had too many errors and missed too many free throws.
“Free throws and missing easy lay-ups,” Doulet said. “We just took it for granted and let it slip away. They (U-High) had a good run, and they got the win.”
The Lady Bulldogs controlled most of the game. In the early going, it was the Ville Platte tandem of Kabreonna Stevens and Zaria Fontenot who got the large contingent of Bulldog followers fired up and cheering.
They each had a 3-pointer in the first quarter when Stevens had eight points and Fontenot seven as the visitors took a 16-7 lead.
The Lady Cubs made a run in the second quarter, with Faith Kwentua posting nine points in the period for the home team, as University cut the lead to 25-22 at the half.
Five players scored for Ville Platte in the third quarter to only two for U-High, but one of those was Chelsey Verrett, who found nothing but the bottom of the net on five-straight 3-point attempts.
The Cubs needed her output because Ville Platte opened the second half on a 4-0 run.
As the final quarter began, Ville Platte held a 43-39 lead.
During the final period, the teams combined to miss 11 free throws and University had seven turnovers in the quarter along with Ville Platte’s six.
Kaila Anderson’s 3-pointer gave the Lady Cubs a 51-49 lead with 1:40 left.
Ty’Reonna Doucet tied it a 51 with an inside shot, then blocked Anderson’s shot at 1:22.
After a Terri Drake free throw made it 52-51 in favor of University, Doucet drove and scored again to set up the final heroics by Marshall.
“I thought two of our players really stepped up tonight,” said University head coach Bonita Johnson. “Faith Kwentua, who’s a sophomore, had a double-double: 15 points and 14 rebounds. And Chelsea Verrett had five straight 3s at a time we needed them to keep us in the game.”
Doulet had nothing but praise for her team after the game.
“I am so proud of our team effort tonight, especially my seniors,” said Doulet. “We have battled all year and our seniors have been true leaders.”