EA girls cruise to win over Destrehan

• By CHARLES SALZER
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Jan 14, 2009 - UPDATED: 6:40 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

GONZALES — A fired-up defensive effort by East Ascension kept cold-shooting Destrehan on the ropes Tuesday night in the District 5-5A girls basketball opener for both teams.

The Spartans held the Wildcats to five first-half field goals, and went on to post a surprisingly easy 59-35 win against a squad expected to contend for the district title.

But it was East Ascension (12-3, 1-0) that asserted itself on its way to a 25-14 halftime lead. The Spartans opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run and coasted to the victory.

“This was one of our better defensive games,” East Ascension coach Dennis Chandler said. “Destrehan came in with a good record, good notoriety, the whole nine yards.”

Both teams received votes in this week’s high school rankings although East Ascension appeared more deserving this time. The Spartans’ three losses have all come against teams of note — Ponchatoula and Denham Springs, class 5A’s first and third-ranked teams, and 4A’s top-ranked St. Michael.

Destrehan coach Ulysses Frontha said the offensive effort by the Wildcats (17-7, 0-1) might have been their worst of the season.

“I was very, very disappointed,” Frontha said. “We had three steals that we threw away trying to get a fast break. It was one of those nights. Sometimes you have those, but you hope you don’t have too many of them.”

Alexis Ruth, who led the Spartans with 16 points, canned two first-quarter 3-pointers helping EA move out to its early lead. Kaneesha Grant also hit an opening period 3-pointer, and finished with 11.

Symone Miller had five steals and four assists to go along with 14 points.

Spartans post player Josie West scored eight points, grabbed nine rebounds and had three steals.

Destrehan struggled to find an offensive rhythm until the fourth quarter, when Paige Rachelle scored eight of her team-high 12 points.

Ladaisha Smith and Tawanna Lee each added 10 points for the Wildcats.

“Early in the game we had some easy lay-ups, and just missed them,” Frontha said. “We were doing well on defense. We held them close, but we couldn’t score. Then we got behind and we were in a bind. That’s basically what happened.”