CCHS Lady Eagles looking to upset No. 1 LCA

No. 8 Central Catholic High School will enter its Division IV girls basketball quarterfinal against two-time defending Division IV state champion and top seed Lafayette Christian Academy Thursday in Lafayette as heavy underdogs.
But don’t tell Central Catholic assistant coach Joe Jones the Lady Eagles (11-17) can’t win the 6:30 p.m. contest against their District 7-1A foe.
That’s not his approach to any game he is coaching as he said he always thinks he will win.
“That’s just how I am, and you got to have that confidence,” Jones said. “I have confidence in the team. I really do. … When we’re hitting from the outside and hitting from the inside, we can play with anybody, and that has been proven. We’ve had some big games this year that we’ve played well.”
The Lady Eagles’ biggest game of the season came in the Division IV regional round Monday when Central Catholic junior standout Yani Johnson hit a bucket with three seconds remaining to lift the Lady Eagles to a 54-53 victory against No. 9 Highland Baptist.
Meanwhile, Lafayette Christian (30-5), which like Central Catholic and Highland Baptist received first-round byes, routed No. 16 St. Edmund 85-28 in the regional round.
Lafayette Christian and Central Catholic will meet with a trip to the Allstate Sugar Bowl/Louisiana High School Athletic Association Girls’ Marsh Madness at Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria next week on the line. The Lady Knights will be looking for their third straight trip, while Central Catholic seeks its first semifinal berth since 2014 when the school won the Class 1A state championship.
Lafayette Christian enters Thursday’s contest having won five straight and won the District 7-1A title with a 4-0 mark. Among those wins was a 68-25 victory against Central Catholic, who finished third in league play, last month in Lafayette.
In that first contest, Central Catholic trailed just 14-9 after a quarter but was outscored 15-1 in the second period. Lafayette Christian continued to pull away in the remaining quarters as it outscored Central Catholic by no less than 12 points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
In that contest, the Lady Knights had three players in double figures, led by Tamera Johnson with 17 points. Zoe Wiltz added 15 and Ajahayah Simpson scored 13.
Since that contest, the Lady Knights have regained the services of starting point guard Autumn Chaisson, who according to The Acadiana Advocate, has been out since December due to an injury.
The Lady Knights are undefeated against Class 1A and Division IV competition this season.
Jones said he thinks if the Lady Eagles can manage to deal with Lafayette Christian’s press on defense, then the Lady Eagles can keep the game close.
“We can match up well with them,” he said. “I think we can match up better than anyone in our district with them. We played them the first time, and we didn’t make the adjustment.”
Jones said the Lady Eagles’ young squad has gotten better each game.
“Win or lose, we’ve been improving,” he said. “We’re going into this Thursday (with the approach) that we can win. I’m not going into there saying ‘they’re better than us.’ They put their shoes on just like us. They’ve got to score points to win just like us, so for me (the thinking) is just like they think they can win, I think we can win.”