Lady Pios host Erath in pivotal 6-3A tilt

CROWLEY – Tonight’s showdown between the Notre Dame Lady Pios and the Erath Lady Bobcats was going to be a big one even before last Friday’s results were official.
The Lady Bobcats handed the Lady Pios their first loss of the season in league play three weeks ago and as of Friday, the two teams were tied with one loss each atop the District 6-3A standings.
The Lady Pios, however, got a little help from Abbeville on Friday evening when the Lady Cats knocked off the Lady Bobcats, 39-36.
Now, tonight’s contest is that much more important.
“Now, we can actually secure the district title with a victory,” said ND coach Nolan Theriot. “Before last Friday, we had to win out for a chance, but, now, if we beat Erath, we win the title outright.”
Defeating Erath may be easier said than done, however, as the Lady Pios found out in their first meeting.
The Lady Cats rallied late in the fourth quarter the last time the two teams met and slipped away with a 50-49 victory in Erath.
That victory gave the Lady Cats their first victory over the Lady Pios in over nine years.
“We are definitely concerned about their ability,” said Theriot. “And last game; it was a huge win for them and their program. Since I’ve been here, they haven’t beaten us; so it was a big win for them.”
That victory was mainly due to Erath’s guard play.
Munette Boldin did most of the damage, scoring 14 points. Aleix Lee followed with 13 points while Logan Guiterrez and Gabbie Harrington each posted nine points.
“The last time we met, we didn’t do a very good job of slowing down their guards,” said Theriot. “Bolden really does everything for them and our biggest concern is her getting the defensive rebound because she is going full speed and she’s not stopping. “
Preventing Bolden from the transition game will be key.
“We’ve got to make sure that if we don’t get the rebound, we have to have all five of our girls sprinting back to the paint,” said Theriot. “I don’t think we can slow her down in the full court, but if we get back and cut her off….”
For Theriot, the game plan isn’t going to change much, if at all.
The main thing for the Lady Pios is that they execute that plan, which they struggled to do three weeks ago.
“We know who the person is that we need to deny and looking back, the different people that we had on her (Bolden) didn’t execute the game plan,” he said.
“Sometimes it was her making great plays, but a lot of the times, we were just lacking in effort.”
Offensively, it wasn’t like the Lady Pios struggled in the first meeting. Madelyn LeJeune pumped in a game-high 28 points in the loss as the Lady Pios were near their season average with 49 points on the night.
“Scoring 49 points is good; I’ll take 49 again,” said Theriot. “But we have to make sure that we don’t give up any big quarters. We gave up 23 in the second quarter and that can’t happen again.”
LeJeune has been the Lady Pios’ leading scorer all season, but lately, senior guard Hanna Esthay has come along and has scored in double figures in each game.
“Hopefully, the players that are normally scoring for us come out hot and we’ll go from there,” said Theriot. “We’ve just got to figure out ways to generate points when the shots aren’t going in.
“Hanna has been playing really well for us, but she has been all season. Her shooting attempts have gone up and because of that, her scoring has gone up. Her shooting percent has always been good; she just wasn’t taking a lot of shots because of what the defense was giving us.
“Now, in the second round of district with teams taking Madelyn away a little bit more, Hanna is seeing more opportunities to score and she’s putting the ball in the hole.”
The action tips off at 5:15 with a boys’ jayvee game. The Lady Pios will take the court immediately following that before the Pios and the Bobcats round out the evening in a boys’ varsity contest.
“Typically, the second time around is always much more hard fought and I think every bucket will be big,” said Theriot. “They are going to bring a lot of fans because they have a good following. They will be here and they will be here early so I hope our fans come out and support the Pios.”