Parish girl's basketball players make All-District 5-5A team

It was a bit of a disappointing season for girl’s basketball in the parish as no teams were able to advance past the first round of the playoffs.

However, regardless of the team struggles, there were plenty of impressive individual performances by Ascension Parish players.

On the All-District 5-5A team, there were nine parish standouts that made the first team.

Oddly enough, Dutchtown came away with the most selections from the parish with four, even though the Lady Griffins did not even make the playoffs.

Dutchtown missed out of this year’s postseason despite finishing with a winning record at 16-11.

Along the way, the Lady Griffins beat St. Amant. In another matchup against the Lady Gators, they lost an overtime thriller.

They also lost a one-point contest against McKinley.

Leading the way defensively for Dutchtown was Destiny Graves. Graves was named the District 5-5A Most Valuable Defensive Player.

Joining graves on the all-district first team was a trio of seniors. They were Zaria Harleaux, Kristen Malone and India Fefee.

St. Amant had the second-most All-District 5-5A first-team selections in the parish with three.

The Lady Gators had a terrific regular season.

They exploded out of the gates early as they went 9-1 in their first 10 games. Although they hit a bit of a rough patch midway through the season, they were still able to finish with an overall record of 21-9.

This awarded them the No. 24 seeding for the Class 5A playoffs. In the opening round, they had to go on the road to face ninth-seeded Pineville.

The Lady Gators were seeking the program’s first postseason victory since 2012, but their season was ended with an emphatic 69-39 loss.

Two St. Amant seniors made the All-District first team. They were guard Amani Gray and forward Alyssa Romano, who is also an All-State pitcher on the softball team.

The Lady Gators also fielded a freshman on the first team. Guard Deniya Thornton was a prolific scorer all season for St. Amant, and she looks to have a very bright future ahead of her with the Lady Gators.

After dominating the parish and the district for the past three years, East Ascension only had two players make the All-District 5-5A team this season.

The Lady Spartans were coming off of three straight seasons of more than 20 victories, and they had reached the state semifinals two years in a row.

East Ascension won the 2017 Class 5A state title.

However, the Lady Spartans lost three key seniors that had helped lead them to so many wins over the past three seasons. Without Diniaa McZeal, Tristen Washington and Alynzia Morris, East Ascension struggled at times this season.

The Lady Spartans finished the regular season with a 12-8 record. Still, they were able to host a first-round playoff game as the No. 15 seed.

In the opening round, they were upset by No. 18 Barbe, 52-49. It was the first time in four years that East Ascension didn’t win at least one playoff game.

Making the All-District 5-5A first team for East Ascension were two seniors that were starters on the 2017 state championship squad.

They were forward Sadie Williams and guard Aja Causey.

Head coach Dennis Chandler was named the District 5-5A Co-Coach of the Year, along with McKinley’s Temeka Johnson.

McKinley’s Erica Lafayette was named the district’s Most Valuable Offensive Player.