BOBBY ARDOIN
Contributing Writer
If three St. Landry Parish girls’ basketball teams continue their postseason ascent, they will have to win at least one game this week in an opponent’s gym.
It’s a different playoff scenario for No. 2 seed North Central, as the Hurricanes remain at home Monday night to face 15th-seeded Montgomery in a regional round contest.
Northwest High, J.S. Clark Leadership Academy and Opelousas High each won first-round home games last week. The reward for those victories however, requires the three parish teams to now board buses and win away from their home gyms.
North Central
For North Central (21-8) which reached the Class 1A semifinals last year, the playoff picture looks less stressful.
The Hurricanes easily won their 5-1A district this year and NCHS now meets Montgomery, which defeated No. 18 Elton 38-28 in a first round home game on Thursday night.
Awaiting the winner of the North Central-Montgomery contest is either No. 7 Oak Grove or 10th-seeded Grand Lake.
Northwest
Northwest, which played for the Class 3A championship last year after reaching quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, is seeded No. 11 and faces sixth-ranked Mansfield in a regional.
The Raiders (20-12) also won the St. Landry Parish girls’ championship in December and on Thursday night Northwest beat Abbeville 49-35. Mansfield beat 27th-seeded Patterson 71-12 in a home game.
Northwest or Mansfield is scheduled to play the winner of No. 3 Albany or No. 19 Baker.
Opelousas
Opelousas (16-12) opened the postseason – a second one under head coach Josh Cador – with a 52-30 home-game win over No. 20 Eleanor McMain of New Orleans.
In order to reach the quarterfinal round, the Tigers will have to defeat No. 4 South Lafourche in a road game set for Monday night.
The winner of the Opelousas-South Lafourche contest meets either No. 5 Hunington or No. 12 North Vermilion.
J.S. Clark
Clark features perhaps the parish’s youngest starting girls’ lineup parish wide, but the Bulldogs defeated District 7-B opponent Bell City 46-43 in a first-round home playoff game on Monday night.
That victory didn’t make it any easier for the Bulldogs (21-14) and ranked 16th in Class B.
Clark travels to play another district team — No. 1-seeded Hathaway — in a regional round game. The winner of the Clark-Hathaway game meets either No. 19 Anacoco or eighth-seeded Quitman.
