Battle in Da Berry, Holiday Classic slated

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Two big Teche Area basketball tournaments get underway today and go through the weekend as both New Iberia Senior High and Hanson play host to teams from around the state.

The TruYou Battle in Da Berry features 14 boys’ basketball teams playing games at the NISH and Iberia Middle School gyms.

At IMS today, Morgan City and Tioga play at 6 p.m. followed by Franklin and H.L. Bourgeois at 7:30 p.m.

At NISH today, Northside and Plaquemine get things underway at 4 p.m. followed Lafayette High and Rayne at 5:30 p.m. Breaux Bridge and Abbeville tip off at 7 p.m. and host NISH battles Cecilia in the final game of the day at 8:30 p.m.

Bracket play continues with four games at NISH on Thursday at 4 p.m. with the Northside/Plaquemine winner taking on Thibodaux followed by a 5:30 p.m. game with the Breaux Bridge/Abbeville winner facing Zachary. At 7 p.m. the Lafayette/Rayne and Morgan City/Tioga winners meet and at 8:30 p.m. the NISH/Cecilia winner faces the Franklin/H.L. Bourgeois winner.

“This is the third year that we’ve put on the tournament,” NISH coach Todd Russ said. “We’ve got some good teams from around the state coming in and some teams that local fans usually don’t get a chance to see during the year.

“We had two teams drop out from last year and we added two teams and we have some good basketball teams coming in. Thibodaux is undefeated on the season and one of the top four teams in Class 5A.”

Semifinals are set for Friday at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. with the championship game set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

One team that Russ lauded for coming into the tournament this year is Franklin.

“(FSH coach Alexis Rack) wore me down,” the NISH coach said. “She has a good young team and she wanted to see them against some top competition. Franklin takes on a good team in H.L. Bourgeois  in the first round and I applaud her for wanting to come in and play some top teams.”

Hanson Holiday Classic

At Hanson, the 78th Annual Holiday Classic gets underway today with three girls’ games and one boys’ game.

At 3:15 p.m. the Berwick girls and Morgan City girls will play followed by the West St. Mary boys and the Grand Isle boys at 4:30 p.m.

At 5:45 p.m. it will be St. Thomas More girls against the Central Catholic girls and at 7 p.m. it will be the Acadiana High girls and the E.D. White girls.

Thursday’s games feature the E.D. White and STM girls at 3:15 p.m. followed by the Central Catholic girls and Doyle girls at 4:30 p.m. At 5:45 p.m. the Doyle boys and the WSM boys face off and at 7 p.m. host Hanson will face Houma Christian in a boys game.

Friday’s games start at 3:15 p.m. with Hanson and Westgate in a girls game followed by STM and Doyle girls at 4:30 p.m. At 5:45 p.m. it will be the Houma Christian and Doyle boys with Grand Isle and Ascension Catholic Boys at 7 p.m. and WSM and Lee Magnet Boys at 8:15 p.m.

Saturday’s games start at 9 a.m. with E.D. White and Berwick girls followed by the Acadiana and Doyle girls at 10:15 a.m.; Lee Magnet and Doyle boys at 11:30 a.m.; Morgan City and Central Catholic girls at 12:45 p.m.; Lee Magnet and Ascension Catholic boys at 2 p.m.; Hanson and Grand Isle boys at 3:15 p.m.; Houma Christian and Ascension Catholic boys at 4:30 p.m. and the final game of the day will be the Hanson girls and the Berwick girls at 5:45 p.m.