Shanice Vaughan (15) goes up for an uncontested layup for two points against Trinity Valley on Saturday. Voche’ Martin, who led the Lady Dragons with 16 points, is also shown. (eParisExtra.com photo by Charles Richards)
By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
PARIS – In competition going back 35 years, Paris Junior College have never beaten Trinity Valley in women’s basketball.
TVCC prevailed again Saturday, 63-51, but it’s baffling how much of a nuisance the Lady Dragons have made of themselves the last couple of years.
Coach Sean LeBeauf’s PJC women took Trinity Valley to overtime each of the last two years.
This season, PJC is 6-10 overall and 1-3 in league play while Trinity Valley is 16-1 and 3-0, and the Lady Cardinals haven’t lost a game on the court in 52 tries. They went 36-0 last season, and their only loss this season was a forfeit because six players were suspended for leaving the bench during an on-court incident. Weatherford had only four players left and so Weatherford was awarded a forfeit of their scheduled Dec. 1 game.
Shlonte Allen led Trinity Valley with 16 points against Paris despite going 2-of-11 from the free throw line. Krystle Henderson added 14 points and Shannon Smith 13.
Voche’ Martin and Kelsei Ewings led the Lady Dragons with 16 points and 15 points respectively.
Usually Paris is short-changed at the free throw line, but it was the Lady Dragons who excelled there on Saturday.
Paris’ start was hardly comfortable, as the Lady Dragons committed three turnovers that enabled Trinity Valley to take an 8-0 lead in little over two minutes. And that was after play was stopped in the first minute of play because water was leaking from the roof onto the playing court.
“Lik a faucet,” one referee described it.
Forty minutes later, after PJC personnel brought out a huge sky-jack, rode it to the spot of the leak, and tied a towel in place. Heavy pre-game rains had mostly subsided, and play resumed.
Within minutes, behind the scoring of Martin, Paris had taken the lead, and the lead changed hands several times in the frst half. Trinity Valley led 31-26 at halftime.
Martin made 6-of-9 free throws, while Ewings and Brea Castro-Gambrell both went 5-of-5. As a team, Paris made 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) to 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) for Trinity Valley, which enabled the Lady Dragons to stay close until the waning minutes of the contest.
Trinity Valley made seven more field goals (23 to 16) and made eight 3-point shots while Paris didn’t attempt any. Every time Paris got within four or five points, the Lady Cardinals would nail another 3-point shot.
Paris is idle on Wednesday. The Lady Dragons resume next Saturday with a 4 p.m. game at Angelina.
Bossier Parish comes to Paris on Wednesday for a men’s game at 7 p.m., but Bossier Parish has no women’s program yet.
TVCC 31-32—63
PARIS 26-25—51
TVCC (16-1, 3-0): Victoria Wells 1 0-0 3, Krystle Henderson 5 2-2 14, Roddricka Patton 2 0-0 5, Shannon Smith 4 3-4 13, Shlonte Allen 6 2-11 16, Julianne Anchling 0 2-2 2, Dominique Brooks 2 2-2 4, Savannah Carter 3 0-0 6. Totals: 23 9/21 63. 3-Pointers: 8 (Allen 2, Smith 2, Henderson 2, Wells 1, Patton 1).
PARIS (6-10, 1-3): Shanice Hill 0 2-3 2, Kelsei Ewings 5 5-5 15, Lea Holt 1 0-0 2, Shanice Vaughan 2 0-0 4, Maeghan Scott 0 1-2 1, Ashley Johnson 0 0-0 0, Brea Castro-Gambrell 2 5-5 9, Karmyn Jackson 0 0-0 0, Adrienne Small 1 0-0 2, Voche’ Martin 5 6-9 16. Totals: 16 19-24 51. 3-Pointers: None.
Charles Richards Charles Richards moved to Paris in 2004 after retiring from a 40-year career in journalism – the last 26 years as a news writer and sports writer with The Associated Press in Dallas and Washington, D.C. In mid-2004, The Paris News coaxed him out of retirement, and he began covering the police, court and regional beat for The Paris News. Then in early 2005, he was switched to coverage of a sharply divided Paris City Council. He was appointed by the City Council in 2006 to the 12-member City Charter Review Commission, which extensively rewrote the outmoded document. His writing awards include two first-place awards in statewide competition for feature writing. The most recent was his 2005 story on a Paris doctor’s startling use of leeches in a successful attempt to re-attach a man’s severed ear. Over his career, Richards’ interview subjects include Alabama Gov. George Wallace, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, David Koresh, Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali and numerous other political and sports figures. He is an alumnus of Texas Tech, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He lives in Paris with his wife, Barbara, who is retired after 30 years as a teacher and high school counselor.
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