HBCS looking to wrap up two big accomplishments

Published 11:51 pm Thursday, February 6, 2020

The race for the Teche Area’s top seed in the playoffs is just about over.

The race for the District 8-A championship is also coming to an end.

Both races involve the same team — the Highland Baptist Lady Bears.

With a week to go in the regular season, Highland, the fifth seed in Division IV and with a one game lead in District 8-A, has just about wrapped up winning both races.

HBCS (23-3 overall, 7-0 District 8-A) could only be caught for the top area seed by Catholic High (14-8, 6-2 District 7-2A), which is sixth in the power rankings in Division III.

But the Lady Bears, which travel to Covenant Christian tonight, can wrap up both races with a pair of wins over the next five days.

After Covenant, Highland will play host to Vermilion Catholic Tuesday. If the Lady Bears beat VC, they will clinch the outright district title and lock up a top five seed in the Division IV playoffs.

Since Highland is almost 1.5 points behind fourth seed Cedar Creek, it’s not likely that the Lady Bears will move into the top four in Division IV. Which means that HBCS will play host to a first round playoff game and then go on the road to face Cedar Creek in the quarterfinals.

Catholic High is three-tenths of a point behind fifth seed St, Charles. The Lady Panthers are hoping to jump past the Lady Comets before the end of the season to play host to two rounds of playoffs instead of one round and going on the road to St. Charles in the quarterfinals.

The other select school in the area, Hanson (11-12, 4-3 District 8-A) is 12th in the power rankings and is likely on the road in the first round of the playoffs and could likely have a rematch with Highland in the first round.

In Class 5A, NISH (13-11, 3-1 District 3-5A) is 27th in the power rankings. Not quite on the bubble but close. The Lady Jackets have four games left in the regular season, including three road games, and probably need to win at least one of them to make sure to get into the playoffs. NISH will be on the road in the first round regardless.

In Class 4A, Westgate (12-10, 2-2 District 5-4A) is 14th in the power rankings and looking to stay in the top 16 to play host to a first round playoff game.

The Lady Tigers have two games left, at St. Thomas More tonight and home against Teurlings next Friday.

In Class 3A, St. Martinville (11-12, 4-3 District 6-3A) and Erath (2-17, 1-6) are 35th and 50th, respectively, in the power rankings. Erath will not make the playoffs this year. St. Martinville needs to pick up enough wins over the final week to jump into the top 32 to get a road first-round playoff game.

In Class 2A, Franklin (21-6, 7-0 District 7-2A) is ninth in the power rankings. The Lady Hornets are almost two full points behind Ferriday for the eighth spot and two home playoff games.

FSH has three games left, tonight against West St. Mary, Monday against Jeanerette and Thursday against Ascension Episcopal to try to move up those two points.

Even with that, a win against WSM tonight clinches a share of the District title for Franklin, its first since 2007.

West St. Mary (6-8, 5-4 district) is 35th in the power rankings; Jeanerette (6-11, 3-5) is 36th in the power rankings; Delcambre (4-19, 3-5 district) is 38th in the power rankings and Loreauville (2-15, 0-8) is 49th in the power rankings.

While WSM and Jeanerette still have outside chances of making the playoffs, Delcambre and Loreauville will not make the playoffs this season.

Finally in Class A, Centerville (5-15, 0-7 District 8-A) is 28th in the power rankings and will be on the road in the first round.