No. 16 WCHS eliminated by top-see Lady Rams in second round

EDGARD – No. 16 seed White Castle couldn’t keep pace with top seed West St. John in a 76-39 LHSAA Class 1A regional playoff loss on Thursday night at WSJ’s gym.

The Lady Bulldogs (16-15), under coach Tammy Washington-Pierce, advanced to the regionals for the first time since going all the way to the semifinals in 2011. West St. John (28-1), the District 9-1A champion, moved on to face Hanson Memorial in the quarterfinals.

“There is a promising future here,” Washington-Pierce said. “We have a bunch of girls returning and should only get better. We felt we loss some games we shouldn’t have this year but we got better and stronger toward the end. We had our ups and downs but weathered the storm and came together as a team.”

West St. John defeated the Lady Bulldogs 58-41 and 63-56 in league play earlier in the season. The Lady Rams jumped out to a 24-9 lead going into the second quarter and extended it to 35-17 at the half before taking a 70-21 advantage into the fourth.

“The difference in the first two games was they were off in the beginning and we were on,” Washington-Pierce said. “Every shot that went up either went in or the rebound went to them. We just had a real off night and were just outplayed. West St. John’s experienced played a role.”

Erica Jones and Shylar O’Bear each had 11 points to lead White Castle. Skylar O’Bear added 10, Ashante Knight four, Blessing Franklin and Megan Overstreet each two and A. Collins one. Shylar O’Bear had two 3-pointers and Jones one.

Jaylyn Gordon had a game-high 27 points for West St. John including five 3-pointers. Maya Trench added 12, Jajuan Nicholas 11, Donasia Bell 10 and Deja Fiest eight. Trench and Bell each had two 3-pointers.