North Vermilion Lady Patriots face LaGrange in Division II Non-Select semifinal

Tonight, the North Vermilion Lady Patriots will compete in their most significant game in four decades at the University Center in Hammond.
The No. 3 Lady Patriots (26-3) will face the No. 2 LaGrange Gators (25-4) in the Division II Non-Select semifinal. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
The winner plays the winner of the No. 1 Sterlington/No. 4 Wossman game Saturday in the state finals.
The state tournament is being played in Southeastern Louisiana University Center, which seats 7,500.
North Vermilion last appeared in a semifinal basketball game during the 1986 season, marking a 40-year gap.
The two teams are well acquainted.
Last year, the Lady Patriots eliminated LaGrange in the second round of the playoffs with a 39-31 victory.
The teams also faced each other during summer basketball.
North Vermilion head coach Jack LeBlanc and LaGrange head coach LaKeem Holmes maintain a strong friendship off the court. Until recently, both teams competed in the same district.
However, tonight’s game carries significant importance for both teams.
North Vermilion is seeking its first basketball state title, while the Lady Gators aim for their second since 2020, when they defeated A.J. Ellender, 56-24, in the finals.
The teams employ distinctly different offensive strategies.
The Lady Gators focus on pressing, generating turnovers, and quickly advancing down the court to score layups or short jump shots.
In contrast, North Vermilion prefers a slower, half-court approach, emphasizing ball movement to find open shots.
“The best way to describe how we play is organized chaos,” said Holmes.
He refers to creating turnovers with a full-court press and quickly moving up the court for a fast layup. The Lady Gators rarely pass the ball around to find an open shot.
Coach LeBlanc, who has been the head coach of the girls for five years, emphasized that LaGrange is not the same team as last year. While they returned five starters, they also added a transfer this season. Freshman Zaliyah Harris is the newcomer on the team, who is not playing like a freshman. She is averaging around 13 points and seven steals a game.
Marleigh Alexis, the 5-foot-7 point guard for the Lady Gators, averages 12 points and about seven steals per game.
In last week’s 20-point playoff win over No. 7 Albany, three Lady Gators scored in double figures, demonstrating balanced scoring.
Alexis contributed 10 points and five steals, while 5-foot-6 Aniyah Guillory added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Zaliyah Harris scored seven points and five steals.
Aniya Guillory, at 5-foot-6, scored 11 points and collected eight rebounds against Albany.
“We have a lot of unselfish players,” said Holmes. “We get defensive turnovers and convert that to offense.”
Coach LeBlanc is aware that the Lady Gators plan to throw everything at them on defense in order to create turnovers.
“We work on the press every day in practice,” said LeBlanc. “They are not going to do something we have not seen.”
While the Lady Gators will push the pace, the Lady Patriots are expected to slow the game to limit LaGrange’s transition opportunities. North Vermilion averages approximately 49 points per game and has scored 60 or more points only four times this season. In contrast, the Lady Gators have reached 60 points in 12 games and 70 points in three games.
Coach LeBlanc stated that facing Northside and Ville Platte this season has helped prepare the team for LaGrange.
Entering tonight’s game, the NV roster is still not 100 percent healthy. Kenzie Marceaux, the MVP in district and parish last year, was questionble last week due to the flu. She is still fighting the flu bug.
Stevie Brasseaux will play post after averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds a game.
Point guard Reagan Smith, who hit some big shots last week, is scoring a team-high 13 points and four rebounds a game. Ashtane Rose is also in double figures with 10 a game and five boards a game.