LOREAUVILLE — West St. Mary set out to prove a point. Loreauville came out a little flat.

That was the difference as the two District 6-2A teams met Tuesday and WSM jumped out to a 19-10 first quarter lead and held on for a 55-52 win.

“That was the key,” said LHS coach Paul Reed. “Our kids dug themselves a hole in the first quarter. The kids fought hard and came back but we didn’t have anything left at the end.”

So went the game between the Tigers and the Wolfpack as WSM rode the inside presence of D’andre Gabriel and Jerald Hawkins, who combined for 22 points, including 11 in the first quarter as West St. Mary jumped out to the big lead.

“That’s the way it’s been all season. We just haven’t blown anybody out,” said WSM coach Donald Sanders. “We just play good defense and hope the other team doesn’t have more points than us.

“That’s the way we have to play. I don’t care how many points we’ve been scoring, I just want 1 more point than the other team.”

With the win, WSM improves to 7-9 overall, 2-0 in district. The Wolfpack is tied for first place with Catholic High, also 2-0 in district after beating Delcambre Tuesday.

Loreauville falls to 11-10, 1-2, two games behind the leaders with five district games left to play.

Tuesday night, it was all WSM in the first quarter but the Tigers slowly pulled back into the game over the final three periods.

“The kids really wanted to come out and set a tone and get a lead where people are chasing us and we’re not always doing the chasing,” said Sanders. “We came out and had that intensity, that fire, and we were ready to play.”

Despite that opening intensity, the Wolfpack had trouble sustaining it the entire game as Loreauville rallied to within 6 points twice in the second half.

Sanders compared it to last week’s game against Delcambre, where WSM led at halftime but faltered in the second half against the Panthers.

“We don’t have consistent enough shooters right now to be able to carry that throughout the game,” said the WSM coach. “We have to rely on defense and hustle.”

And a big dose of Gabriel and Hawkins.

“I can’t teach 6-foot-7,” said Sanders. “That’s the advantage we have over everyone else in district. We have two big twin towers and when they come to play, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

They proved to be a little too much for Loreauville.

“Our kids did a good job,” said Reed. “The Hawkins kid and the other guy gave us trouble with offensive rebounds. But my big kid, Kyle (Francois) played hard too.

“But we dug that first quarter hole and it was too big to come back from.”

Francois had 19 points to lead Loreauville and Raymond Bonnette added 15 in the loss.

Glenn Marsh had 10 points and David Robertson added 13 for the Wolfpack.

West St. Mary travels to Jeanerette Friday while Loreauville plays host to Catholic High.

West St. Mary 63, Loreauville 12

LOREAUVILLE — Amber Joe had 19 points as West St. Mary blew past Loreauville Tuesday in a District 6-2A game.

Myla Dapremont added 10 points and Kriston Thomas had 8 for the Lady Wolfpack (8-6, 2-0), who jumped out to a 21-1 first quarter lead.

Tyler Gaddison led LHS (3-14, 2-1) with 6 points.

Loreauville plays host to Catholic High School on Friday in a district game.