Lady 'Canes cruise past OC
By Al Boudreaux
Sports Correspondent

The North Central Lady Hurricanes broke their huddle before their District 6-A contest with the Opelousas Catholic Lady Vikings with the chant of "defense."
The Lady Hurricanes then went out and played a full court suffocating defense in taking a 73-39 win over OC.
"We smothered them defensively and had balanced scoring," North Central head coach Vanessa Taylor pointed out after the game. "Val Harris has been in a slump, so tonight was good for her to get back on her game. We also got more scoring from the other girls."
North Central's Donisha Duresseau hit a three pointer to open the scoring before Dana Hayes of OC hit a basket and North Central was up 3-2.
The two teams exchanged baskets before North Central's press forced a Lady Viking turnover to put North Central up 8-4.
OC had six turnovers in the first quarter and North Central took advantage of just about every one.
Duresseau hit the Lady Hurricanes second 3-pointer of the first quarter and took a 13-5 lead with 3:32 remaining in the quarter.
A rebound and put back for a basket by OC's Amanda Fontenot kept the Lady Vikings going, cutting the North Central lead back to five points as the score stood at 13-7 with 2:55 left in the opening quarter.
The Lady Hurricane defense then caused five straight turnovers and North Central capitalized in running off 10 unanswered points.
The Lady Hurricane run put North Central up 25-9 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter opened with two OC turnover and two North Central layups.
With a 31-9 lead at the 6:18 mark in the second quarter the Lady Hurricanes backed off their full court press.
Hayes got the Lady Vikings on the score board with a free throw only to have the Lady Hurricanes' Harris respond with a basket to make the score 33-10.
North Central used the last 2:21 of the first half to pad its lead and take a 41-15 lead into the locker room at the half.
Hayes hit a 3-pointer and scored a two point basket to help the Lady Vikings get to their 25th point of the contest but North Central outscored OC 20-10 in the third quarter and controlled the game at the end of the third quarter leading, 61-25.
Tasha Tanner was high point scorer for the game for North Central with 19 points.
Amanda Fontenot led the Lady Vikings in the fourth quarter with 12 points and also led OC in scoring with 22 points for the game.
"We were out matched from the start," Opelousas Catholic head coach John Braham said. "They beat us on the boards and we lost too many turnovers.
"We couldn't handle their intense pressure from the beginning of the game."
Opelousas Catholic next hosts False River Academy Friday night for Senior night.
North Central travels to take on Acadiana Prep on Friday night at Acadiana Prep.
North Central 73, OC 39
NC 25 16 20 12 - 73
OC 9 6 10 14 - 39
NC (73) Donisha Duresseau 2-3-0-0-13, Appollonia Chambers 2-1-0-0-7, Tasha Tanner 7-1-3-2-19, Val Harris 5-0-10-5-15, Brittni Rue 0-1-0-0-3, Daraneshia Joseph 3-0-0-0-6, Quaneisha Coleman 2-1-0-0-7.
OC (39) Amber Guillory 0-0-2-2-2, Amanda Fontenot 6-0-15-10-22, Dana Hayes
2-1-6-3-10-14, Maggie Courville 0-0-2-1-1, Janae Richard 1-0-0-0-2, Carly Boudreaux 1-0-0-0-2.