Jennings pulls off sweep of Iota

The Jennings Lady Bulldogs used a 17-0 run in the second quarter to gain some distance and held on from there to knock off Iota, 55-49, in a non-district contest Monday evening.
The loss was the first of the season for Iota, which fell to 4-1 heading into Thursday’s home contest against Kaplan.
Jennings, a 2021 state quarterfinalist in Class 3A, improved to 4-3.
“It was just really a bad first half,” said Iota coach Meghann LeJeune, whose team trailed 26-14 at the break. “We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.
“We were kind of lazy on defense and gave up open shots that we had to cover because we knew they could shoot from the outside.”
The host Lady Dogs took a 9-8 advantage in the first quarter and erupted for 17 straight points in the second frame to push their lead to 26-8 with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
Guard Anna Trahan and Chanyree Lewis sparked the big run with back-to-back 3-pointers and Kaleigh Shamsie also knocked one down from long range.
Iota scored the final six points of the half on a bucket in the lane by Sage Wimberly and four free throws, two each from Laiken Vige and Leah Hebert, to get within 12 at 26-14.
Iota trimmed the lead to four with just over four minutes remaining in the third quarter by going on an 8-0 run, but the hosts answered with a pair of quick baskets by Trahan and another 3-pointer from Zy Etienne to push the advantage back to double figures.
Iota’s Avery Young drilled a 3-pointer of her own at the end of the frame to trim the deficit to 11 (40-29) entering the final stanza.
Young got hot again in the fourth quarter and knocked down another shot from beyond the arc with just over three minutes remaining to get the Lady Dogs within four again at 46-42.
Once again, Jennings had an answer and went on a quick 6-0 run to push the lead back to 10 (52-42).
“When we made our little runs there in the second half, they had an answer or we missed something wide open,” said LeJeune. “In tough ballgames like that, until we start finishing those easy buckets, it’s going to be tough for us.”
In the second half, Iota actually outscored the host Lady Dogs 35-29.
“I was really pleased with our fight in the second half,” said LeJeune. “It’s just frustrating that we took 16 minutes to get it going. That was what changed the game.
“And it was everybody. No one really began playing until the second half.”
Young, who struggled with just four points in the first half, had a resurgence in the final two frames where she scored 26 of her game-high 30 points. She knocked down four 3-pointers and also finished with nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.
“We’ve got to get people more involved on the offensive end,” said LeJeune. “Avery ended up with 30 and it was a heck of a showing on her part, but we have to have more from everybody else. We only scored 49 points and Avery had 30.”
Sage Wimberly added six points for Iota, all in the first half and guard Leah Hebert had five. Wimberly also had six rebounds and three blocks and Hebert added four rebounds and four steals.
Ella Jabusch added four points for Iota. Vige and Brinna Hebert rounded out the offense with two points each.
Jennings completed the sweep in the boys game with a 54-47 victory over Iota.
The two teams played to a 26-26 deadlock at the half but Jennings went on a 17-10 run in the third quarter to take the lead (43-36) for good.
Both teams scored 11 points over the final eight minutes.
Chase Lalonde and Andrew Thibodeaux paced Iota with 17 and 10 points, respectively. Kolton Morgan and Payton DarDar each added six points, Cole Breaux scored four, Dom Smith had three and Connor Daigle finished with one.