Tiger Invitational: Lake Arthur scorches St. Louis, Sulphur beats state champ Oakdale

Published 7:23 am Saturday, December 9, 2023

LAKE ARTHUR — Lake Arthur closed the final day of its tournament on Friday with a dominating win over St. Louis Catholic, while Sulphur edged defending Nonselect Division IV state champion Oakdale.

Lake Arthur 66, St. Louis Catholic 29

Senior point guard Vivian Sketoe poured in 31 points on Friday as the Tigers rolled to a 66-29 win over St. Louis Catholic, last season’s Select Division II runner-up.

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Lake Arthur (8-3) opened the game with a 15-0 run, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Sketoe, who finished with five.

St. Louis (1-6) scored its first bucket with 3:46 left in the first quarter on a shot in the post by Laci Moton, but the Saints could do little to slow the speedy Tigers and turned the ball over six times in the first quarter.

Sketoe scored 17 of the Tigers’ 20 second-quarter points, and Lake Arthur led 43-12 at halftime.

Sunny Woodcock led St. Louis with seven points.

Sulphur 46, Oakdale 43

Sulphur built up a 15-point halftime lead and held off a second-half charge from Oakdale to win 46-43.

Oakdale (11-3) led 3-2 early on a 3-pointer by Kaylee Bradley, but forward Reese Martin scored nine of her 16 points in the first quarter as the Tors broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-0 run.

Sulphur (7-5) rode hot-shooting guard Kierstyn Gremillion in the second quarter as she poured in 11 of her 15 points to push the Tors lead to 33-18 at halftime.

But Oakdale came out of the break on fire, outscoring the Tors 17-4 to pull within two points. Akeelah Hobson scored nine of her 13 points in the third quarter, and Emani Young finished with 14.

Southside 58, Rosepine 57

After some first-half struggles, Rosepine nearly erased a double-digit deficit in its 58-57 loss to Southside, the No. 3 team in the Nonselect Division I power rankings.

Rosepine outscored Southside 32-25 in the second half and better contained Shark senior guard Eymai Key, who scored 23 of her 31 points in the first half.

The Eagles, the defending Nonselect Division III state champ, forced 14 turnovers in the first half but struggled to score at the Sharks’ pace. Rosepine shot 28.6 percent in the first half, while the Sharks shot 57.1 percent. Key scored 16 points in the first quarter.

The Eagles got a big boost when Kelly Norris banked in a 3-pointer and the end of the first quarter to cut the Sharks’ lead to 20-16. But Southside opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 14-point lead.

Rosepine had a balanced scoring attack with four players in double-figures led by Addison Fruge’s 16 points. Norris finished with 14 points, Nevaeh Rivera added 13 and Kailea Blankenbaker chipped in 10 points.

South Beauregard 45, Iota 38

South Beauregard won for the fifth time in six games on Friday after a 45-38 win over Iota.

The Lady Ks led by 10 points, 29-19, early in the third quarter on a pair of free throws by Emorie Fontenot, but the Bulldogs cut the deficit to three twice in the fourth quarter. The first time was on a shot by freshman Ella Lopez with 6:25 left in the game and again on a jumper by freshman Emma Moss 30 seconds later.

Fontenot led South Beauregard (8-4) with 11 points, while senior Brinna Hebert led Iota (6-4) with 10 points.