NEW IBERIA – The last time the New Iberia Senior High girls basketball team faced Acadiana High, the Yellow Jackets claimed a decisive 46-33 win in the championship game of the Darrel Mitchell, Sr. Holiday Classic in St. Martinville.  

The two squads met again in a District 3-5A matchup at NISH on Tuesday with surprisingly different results as the Rams claimed a 36-24 win.

After NISH forward Laila Sigure dropped 22 points on the Rams in December, Acadiana coach Dustin Cook was determined to not let history repeat itself.

“We changed things by trying to force some outside shots and clog the middle where No. 1 (Sigure) hurt us the last time we played,” Cook said. 

“That’s what our game plan was.  When she caught it, we wanted to have at least two bodies around her.  She hurt us a lot at St. Martinville.  We wanted to make another player hurt us.”

Neither team could buy a bucket in the first quarter, which ended with NISH ahead 5-3.  Acadiana missed all nine of its field goal attempts and settled for three free throws.  

The Yellow Jackets weren’t much more accurate either, connecting on 2-of-11 shots from the floor

Early in the second quarter, the Rams (19-7, 2-0) tied it at 5-5 on their first field goal.  Riley Guillote’s put-back and two free throws from La’Nasia Lively pushed NISH ahead 9-5.

The Rams closed out the first half with an 11-0 run and proceeded to construct a 30-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.

“We need to be in the gym every day getting shots up,” NISH coach Chris Johnson said.  “We made zero 3-pointers until the end of the game when we made two while trying to make a run.”

Arianna Brown, who made 4-of-7 field goals, led NISH with 10 points.  After scoring 5, 4 and 4 points in each of the first three quarters, the Yellow Jackets outscored Acadiana 11-8 in the fourth quarter, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

“Acadiana ran a zone defense,” Johnson said.  “We couldn’t hit shots against their zone.  When we missed, they pulled down the rebound.  When they missed, they were getting two and three chances at the bucket.”

Brown was the only double-digit scorer for NISH (16-8, 1-1), which got four points apiece from Lively and Jasmine Picard.  Ahriyel Jeanbaptist canned a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter as the Jackets cut the deficit from 17 to 12 points.

“Brown just gives you everything she has across the board,” Johnson said.  “She’s not usually our biggest scorer, but she has developed tremendously and takes strides every day to get better.”

Zoe Spain’s nine points paced the Rams, who upset 19-4 Barbe in the district opener for both teams.

NISH returns to action Thursday at 3:30 P.M. at Comeaux (3-13, 0-2).

“Comeaux is struggling, but I hesitate to say anybody is struggling in district play,” Johnson said.  “You have to come out with your guns blazing in district.

“I want to see us finish.  We have to continue to try to put together a full game.  We may have done that twice.  I think we got a little comfortable with a winning streak.  Sometimes you need one of these reality checks to get refocused.”