District proving to be ripe for picking for both boys, girls

The H.L. Bourgeois boys basketball team was seemingly on top of the world.

They headed into district play with a 12-3 record and were pacing the area in the latest power rankings, coming in as the No. 6 team in the state in Class 5A.

Virtually every coach in the area painted the Braves as the undisputed team to beat for the boy’s district title.

Then, H.L. Bourgeois was beaten by Assumption in its first district game.

The Mustangs had just a 3-9 record before last Tuesday’s 62-58 win.

Welcome to the District 8-5A, AKA The Bayou District where fans, players and coaches know anything can and will happen on any given Tuesday or Friday evening in Tri-parish gymnasiums.

“There’s no doubt about it,” South Lafourche boys basketball coach Brian Callais said. “If you’re not ready to play, you’re going to definitely get beat no matter who you’re playing. That’s just the way it is in this district.”

What makes the district so tough, according to local coaches is the close proximity of everyone in the area. With three participating high schools in Terrebonne Parish, three high schools in Lafourche Parish and one in Assumption, that’s seven schools all within a 75-100-mile radius.

What that means, according to Thibodaux girl’s basketball coach Damon Robinson, is rivalry games n every, single time you walk onto the floor.

“It certainly seems that way,” Robinson said. “In this district, just about every game is a rivalry game, because all these kids have grown up together, so they’ve all got a cousin on the other team or something like that. All of these kids know one another personally. The games mean a little bit extra to them when that’s the case.”

On the boy’s side, even despite the loss, H.L. Bourgeois is the team everyone is chasing heading into the meat of the schedule.

The Braves know that’s the case, too, but coach Andrew Caillouet knows his team must be better than they were against Assumption where they struggled to score around the basket.

“Obviously we made the race a whole lot more interesting [against Assumption],” Caillouet said. “I told them even before Assumption, ‘You’ve got a bulls-eye on your backs and you’ve just made it harder on yourself, because now everybody truly feels they’ve got a shot at you.’”

Looking at the standings, the teams with the best “shot” on paper at the Braves are likely Terrebonne and South Lafourche, who were the only other teams to post winning records in non-district play.

The Tigers got a leg-up on the competition in an overtime thriller against Thibodaux.

But like everyone else, Terrebonne coach Derek Szush, who is serving as a head coach in the district for the first time this season, said there’s no way to predict what might happen in the coming weeks of the season.

Case and point, after the Thibodaux win, the Tigers lost in overtime to South Lafourche.

“Year in and year out, you never know who’s going to come back with what,” Szush said. “It’s always competitive.”

Callais agreed and said like in years past, he believes the winner could emerge with a few blemishes to its name.

“I really believe that our district champ can have two, or possibly even three losses this year,” Callais said.

Like on the boy’s side, the Terrebonne girls have also cruised to a hot start, winning their first three games to start district play.

The Lady Tigers have used the inside/outside combo of sophomores Raina Diggs and Darian Dees to ease the losses the team felt last year with the graduation of Sierra Lyons and Alaina Verdin.

But assistant coach Jerwaski Coleman said he’s not interested as much in the team’s previous triumphs as he is the Lady Tigers’ next opponent on its schedule.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Coleman said. “We’re not looking ahead or taking anyone for granted.”

Nipping at Terrebonne’s heels are Thibodaux, Assumption and Central Lafourche who all started the district schedule with early-season success.

Terrebonne has already beaten Thibodaux, but they will meet again Jan. 28 in Thibodaux.

Robinson said the thing about this year’s district is everyone has similar talent, but plays a different style.

“Talent-wise, everybody’s about the same. But then there’s matchups. Guard play, post play, shooters, then there’s inside and outside,” Robinson said. “Styles make fights and girls basketball, you never know who’s going to show up and play well. It’s going to be all about consistency and who’s going to give a consistent effort night in and night out at home and away.”

The team that does that, Robinson believes, will walk home the champion.

But like always, the smoke likely won’t clear until the last week of the season.

That’s the Bayou District at its finest.