Early surge propels Lady Pios past Abbeville

CROWLEY – The Notre Dame Lady Pios set the tone early in their District 6-3A contest against Abbeville Tuesday evening at A.B. Dore Gym.
The Lady Pios (14-8, 4-1) poured in 23 points in the opening frame and never looked back in a 49-35 thumping of the Lady Wildcats.
“We came out like gang busters and everything that we put up in the first quarter went in,” said ND coach Nolan Theriot, whose squad led 23-6 after the first frame. “The quarter couldn’t have gone better for us, offensively. I think we kind of caught them on their heels and then the rest of the way, they played us tit-for-tat, which is what I expected.”
Madelyn LeJeune got the Lady Pios off to the quick start by pouring in 11 of her game-high 25 points in the first eight minutes. Hanna Esthay also knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to help extend the cushion.
Abbeville’s struggles continued in the second quarter as they were limited to just four points and went into the half trailing 34-10.
The Lady Pios scaled back the offense in the third quarter and were outscored 6-4.
“I thought we were a little out of sync in the second half,” said Theriot. “They (Abbeville) tried a box-and-one on Madelyn and we had some stuff that was wide open and we just didn’t execute. But we ended up getting them out of the box and some other kids stepped up and made some shots.”
Abbeville actually outscored the Lady Pios in the fourth quarter as well, 12-11.
“The ball wasn’t bouncing our way so instead of continuing to attack the basket, we just kind of backed off a little bit and I think that’s why the fourth quarter was how it was.”
LeJeune was followed by Elise LeBeouf with 11 points and Esthay with 10. Alyssa Williams added two points and Catherine Gonzalez scored one.