LACASSINE — The top-seeded Lacassine Lady Cardinals started off fast and never looked back in a 61-22 win over the 8-seeded Converse in the Class B quarterfinals Monday night.

The win advances the Lady Cardinals (38-1) to the state semifinal round where they will face District 7-B rival and 4th seeded Hathaway, who was a 72-35 winner over Rapides.

Converse jumped out to an early 4-2 lead before Lacassine put the game away with a 32-1 run. That gave Lacassine a 34-5 lead with 3:28 to play in the second quarter.

Hayley Guidry scored 13 points during the run, including connecting on three 3-pointers. Converse did outscore Lacassine 10-3 to close out the half but still trailed 37-15 at intermission.

“My girls have had to adjust how different referees call right or wrong all year, and we made that adjustment really quick,” Lacassine coach Eddie Michalko said. “We got some quick steals and finished on a few buckets. My kids played real hard tonight but we have played like that all year.”

The third quarter saw the Lady Cardinals open with an 11-0 run behind four points from Abbie Melanson and Guidry’s fourth 3-pointer of the night to take a 46-15 advantage with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter. The Lady Cardinals outscored the Lady Wildcats 11-5 in the third quarter to lead 48-20 going into the final quarter of action.

Guidry opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to give Lacassine a 51-22 lead. Converse answered with its lone basket of the fourth quarter with 5:08 to play to trail 51-22.

Lacassine then closed out the game with a 10-0 run behind six fourth-quarter points from Morgan Brasseaux.

The Lady Cardinals were led in scoring by Guidry, who finished with 19 points. Melanson and Brasseaux finished with 16 and 12 points respectively.

“We kind of go as Hayley (Guidry) goes,” said Michalko. “It is something about making a three it kind of pumps the whole team up and it energized them. The game started out pretty shaky but we just kept pounding away. I’m real proud of the effort tonight.”

Casey Craig led the Lady Wildcats in scoring with 10 points.

(MGNonline)