NISH's Ariaynna Brown dribbles the ball towards the STM basket. 

The high-flying Lady Jacket basketball team met their match when they traveled to STM this week to take on the undefeated Lady Cougars.

Despite a strong offensive effort and a late rally that drew NISH to within five points of STM, the Lady Jackets were unable to secure their eighth win of the season, losing 47-39 on Tuesday.

Despite the loss, head coach Chris Johnson said that it was one of the best-played games for his team this season.

“This was probably one of the best games that we’ve played all year,” he said after the loss. “I told the girls that we need to compete and they were like’ but coach, we want to win.’ I told them to just compete and we would figure everything out. I guarantee that if I go into the locker room they would be the happiest team that I’ve ever coached.”

After dropping behind 6-0 early in the first quarter, NISH began to settle into the game but were unable to find much consistency in their offensive play in the first half.

Trailing 25-17 at halftime, the game plan when the Lady Jackets returned to the court was clear: shoot from distance. As the team began to sink three pointers, the STM lead began to fall away, dropping to just five points late in the fourth quarter. A chance to draw even closer was squandered by a wayward pass that rolled out of bounds, followed by missed defensive assignments that allowed STM to pull away once again to see out the contest.

“We had an opportunity where we cut it to five and we had a shot to cut it to three off a steal but we threw it out of bounds,” Johnson said. “Overall, when we get started and get pushing, teams struggle with the speed that we can play at. Realistically we went seven but we really played five.”

The loss to STM is just the third game that the Lady Jackets have dropped this season, a marked improvement from last year. Johnson, who replaced his wife, Shalicia, as head coach this year, said that the team isn’t fully bought into the system yet, but they’re getting close.

“We’re still working on it, I don’t think they’ve fully bought in yet,’ he explained. “I think we’re getting there and this game is going to definitely help us transition. We’re making progress, which is good. We’re still going forward even after we dropped two before this one. That’s the beauty of it and I think when we get to district, we’re going to be where we want to be.”

NISH enjoyed a bit of early-season success last year before falling apart in district play. This year, they look ready to make a long-term run at the playoffs.

Besides the loss to STM, the Lady Jackets picked up losses to North Vermilion and Patterson, though Johnson said that the Patterson loss was due to miscommunication at the NISH Thanksgiving tournament.

“North Vermilion came out and kind of punched us early. We cut it to six and had an opportunity to cut it to three, but we just couldn’t make the shot,” Johnson said. “The Patterson loss was at our tournament and it was just a crazy situation. We didn’t know that we were supposed to be playing. It was an unfortunate situation for us and it didn’t go our way, but we’ve got to deal with it.”

Seniors Zoriahn Davis and Laila Sigure led the scoring for NISh with 13 points each. La’Nasia Lively added six points.

The Lady Jackets will be back in action on Monday when they travel to Grand Coteau to face off against Beau Chene High School. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m.