LHSAA Girls All-Star Game
BATON ROUGE — LSU signee Seimone Augustus of Capitol and Mississippi College prospect Lacey Kovach of Albany, dazzled a large crowd Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center leading the East to an 82-43 trouncing of the West in the opening game of the basketball doubleheader.
The margin of victory was the largest in the 29-year history of the contest, and gave the East three straight wins to cut the West advantage in the series to 17-12.
Parade All-America Augustus was voted the MVP of the event, playing 18 minutes and scoring 18 points, hitting 7-of-14 shots, including 4-of-6 from the free throw line with five rebounds.
Her award was cinched in the first five minutes of the second half when she led three consecutive East fast breaks.
Kovach, meanwhile, playing for the most part in a separate five from Augustus was stepping out and hitting 5-of-8 three pointers for 15 points 13 minutes.
The East dominated the contest from the beginning jumping out to a 19-point, 27-8 lead with 8:35 to go in the first half, a margin they extended to 35-13, at the intermission.
The second 20 minutes started no better for the West as the East opened up a 36 points, 52-16 margin in the first six minutes with the biggest lead of 38 points coming at the 1:55 mark, 76-38.
The East shot 48.6 percent for the game, 41.7 from the three-point line, while holding the West to 16.9 percent from the field and 1-of-13 from three-point range. The East had the rebound advantage, 66-49.
LHSAA Boys All-Star Game
BATON ROUGE — The East all-stars used a 21-2 run in the second half to break a 65-65 tie en route to a 101-83 victory over the West in the 51st annual Louisiana High School Coaches’ Association boys basketball game Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The East, which took a slight 26-25 all-time lead in the series, had four players score in double figures, led by Most Valuable Player Spencer Ford of Scotlandville, who scored 17 points.
Joining Ford in double figures for the East were Woodlawn-Baton Rouge’s James Collins with 16, Destrehan’s Mark Stewart with 15 and Zachary’s Jeremy Richardson with 13.
Stewart hit two free throws with 11:54 remaining to give the East the lead for good at 67-65. Stewart would drain a 3-pointer, then Wossman’s Antonio Staten hit back-to-back layups to cap a 9-0 run for a 74-65 edge with 9:21 to go.
Following a Staten 3-point play, the East put the game out of reach with three consecutive 3-pointers by Richardson that made it 86-67 with 6:05 to go. The West would not get closer than 16 points the rest of the way, with the East grabbing its first 20-point bulge at 95-75 on Collins’ layup with 3:12 to go.
The East took a 33-22 lead with 7:18 to go in the first half before the West began to chip away at the margin, tying the game on a layup by St. Martinville’s Darrel Mitchell Jr., an LSU signee. Mitchell’s layup 2:07 before halftime gave the West a 44-42 lead, but the East battled back and forged a 48-48 tie at halftime.
Mitchell led the West with 16 points, while Jeremy Johnston of Airline added 14 and Travis Cash of Southwood poured in 13 to pace the West.
The West’s largest lead was four, the last time coming at 60-56 five minutes into the second half.
The LHSCA high school all-star week activities conclude Friday at 6:30 p.m. with the 65th annual football game in Tiger Stadium. The East leads the football series, 37-25-2, but the West has won six of the last eight meetings.