EUNICE - There is a first time for everything.
During Vanessa Taylor's nine-year tenure as coach at North Central High School, the Lady Canes have made it to the Sweet 16, have earned numerous district championships and various other honors.
But Taylor's Lady Canes have never been parish champions ... until now.
North Central remained undefeated, captured the parish championship and vanquished perennial favorite Opelousas 42-40 in the girls championship game of the St. Landry Parish Basketball Tournament on Saturday.
"This is a first for me," said Taylor. "It feels good but all I can think about right now are the mistakes we made."
Taylor lamented the lapses that allowed Opelousas to get back into the game after the Lady Canes had built a seemingly insurmountable first-half advantage.
"OHS's girls played hard, they played well and we lost our composure," Taylor said, "and wanted to give them the game. So, we have a lot of work to do."
Still, a 12-0 record isn't bad, but Taylor is focused on district play, and beyond. "I'm looking at the long run. Beating good teams like OHS and Crowley is good for our confidence," she said, "but we are allowing teams to get back into games. We lack a killer instinct. That concerns me."
Donisha Duruisseau led North Central with 14 points, while Naomi Green tallied the same for Opelousas.
Green got the Lady Tigers a short-lived lead with a 3-point basket that opened scoring, but Duruisseau notched a trey with 2:25 to play in the first period that gave North Central a lead it wouldn't relinquish until midway through the fourth quarter.
The Lady Canes (12-0) played smothering defense for the duration of the first period, pressuring the Lady Tigers into turnovers and miscues. North Central closed the first period and opened the second with an 8-point run, and took a 22-10 lead into the dressing room.
Down 34-19 late in the third period, the Lady Tigers (7-8) put together a run and briefly regained the lead 36-34 with four minutes remaining in the game.
"We full-court pressed and got back into the game," said OHS mentor Gayle Montalvo. "Had there been one more minute in the game, we might have taken it."
Montalvo stated that she was proud of her team, and made a point of saying that her team's best days are still ahead.
"We'll all be back next season, and we'll take it next year, if possible," she said.