Lady Pios advance to Class 3A regionals

CROWLEY – Just one day before the Notre Dame Lady Pios took the court for their Class 3A playoff opener, their two leading scorers were struggling for different reasons.
Madelyn LeJeune was battling a sore back and couldn’t even hardly stand up.
Hanna Esthay was fine physically, but couldn’t she hit a shot in practice.
On Thursday, however, the struggles ceased and the dynamic duo was back to true form.
LeJeune and Esthay combined for 38 points to help lead the Lady Pios to a 53-34 victory over District 6-3A rival Erath.
The victory sends the Lady Pios into a second-round match-up against E.D. White in Thibodeaux on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
“Yesterday, I was worried,” said Notre Dame coach Nolan Theriot. “We had one who couldn’t hardly stand up and one who couldn’t hit water if she fell out of a boat.
“But tonight, you couldn’t even tell. Madelyn looked as if nothing was wrong with her and Hanna found her rhythm.”
LeJeune poured in a game-high 22 points, including 11 in a first quarter that saw the Lady Pios jump out to a 21-15 lead.
Esthay got the Lady Pios going with back-to-back 3-pointers to start the contest and then LeJeune took over and scored the next nine Notre Dame points.
“Hanna came out on fire and really gave us a spark and Madelyn fed off of that,” said Theriot. “Madelyn’s strength is the mid-range jumper and it’s very difficult to defend. She’s dribbling and she just floats it up there, I mean, she’s knocking down shots that dudes make.”
The 21-point outburst in the first quarter was huge for the Lady Pios.
“Our goal was to go 12, 12, 12 and 12 because I felt if we could score 48 points, we were going to win the ballgame,” said Theriot. “I felt with our game plan, we could hold them below 48 and when we put up 21 in the first quarter, I was starting to feel pretty confident.”
The offensive production slowed tremendously in the second quarter with each team struggling from the floor.
Esthay picked up a steal to start the quarter and scored on a layup and Melise Gossen hit a bucket in the paint with just over six minutes remaining in the half to give the Lady Pios a 25-15 cushion.
The Lady Pios didn’t get another bucket again until Esthay drained a long-range 3-pointer at the buzzer to push the lead to 28-19 at the break.
Erath went on a 5-0 run to start the third quarter and cut the lead to four (28-24) behind a bucket by Alexis Lege and a 3-pointer from Gabby Harrington.
That was as close as they would get, however.
Hunter LeBlanc and LeJeune drained back-to-back 3-pointers to end Erath’s run and Esthay dropped in another long ball later in the frame as the Lady Pios took a 37-38 lead into the final frame.
“They (Erath) came out in a 1-2-2 defense in the third quarter and we really didn’t have good movement of our players,” said Theriot, whose team didn’t score for the first four minutes of the second half. “We have a tendency to kind of get stagnant when we see the zone, but the girls stepped up and knocked down some big buckets when we weren’t even running offense and that kind of settled us down.”
The fourth quarter was all about defense for the Lady Pios, who forced five turnovers in the final frame that enabled them to go on a 16-6 run.
LeJeune pumped in another eight points down the stretch and freshman forward Alyssa Williams added six more.
“I thought defensively, we definitely made a stand,” said Theriot. “I don’t know how many times we got our hands on the basketball tonight, but we did a tremendous job of getting our hands in the passing lanes, which we have been preaching the last two weeks. The girls did a great job of running the game plan, contesting shots, blocking out and not getting themselves in foul trouble.”
LeJeune led the Lady Pios in three other categories other that scoring. She nine rebounds, six assists and three steals
Esthay, who connected on four 3-pointers, finished the night with 16 points and she pulled down four rebounds.
Williams followed with eight points and six rebounds and LeBlanc scored three points. Gossen and Elise LeBeouf rounded out the Lady Pios’ scoring with two points each.
Harrington and Lege paced the Lady Bobcats with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Monette Bolden added seven points and Ashlyn Lege had two.
“I thought both teams really battled tonight,” said Theriot. “I hate for somebody to have to go home. Obviously, I didn’t want it to be us, but that’s a very good 22 seed that could have beaten a number of teams in the state tonight.”