The Belle Chasse Lady Cardinals Varsity Basketball Team won the championship of the 2011 Lady Cardinals Invitational, which was held Saturday, February 5.

The Lady Cardinals were the only team in the tournament to finish with an undefeated record.

In the first game, they came back from a 12-point first-half deficit to narrowly defeat Grace King, 36-33. Junior Chloe Horde led the team with 10 points, and freshman Nicole Lester added eight points. The Lady Cardinals battled from behind for most of the game and finally took the lead in the fourth quarter, only to see the Lady Irish reclaim the lead in the final minute. With Grace King ahead, 33-32, junior Destyn Johnson made a clutch baseline jumper to give Belle Chasse the lead. Then, after a successful defensive stop, sophomore Kenyatta Barthelemy made two key free throws to put the team up by three. Grace King missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer.

Senior Jenae Marshall led Belle Chasse on defense, and freshman Julie Vujnovich made a key free throw late in the game.

In their second game of the day, the Lady Cards pulled away late in the game against a tough Algiers Tech squad to win, 63-35.

Lester led a balanced scoring attack which saw a season-high 10 players score, and four Lady Cards scored in double figures. Lester had 16, and Horde, junior Beth Dingler, and sophomore Rashon Weatherstrand had 10 points apiece.

Dingler had eight of her 10 points in the second quarter, including one of her two made three-point shots, as the Lady Cards built a 27-15 lead. Lester had six points in the third quarter as the team extended the lead to 40-26 after three quarters. After Algiers Tech used strong defense to cut the lead to 10, the Lady Cards pulled away late.

Belle Chasse was scheduled to play a third game in the tournament against Thomas Jefferson, but Thomas Jefferson chose to not play its third game in the event.

BCHS Head Coach Tony LaBella said he was pleased with the team’s effort in the tournament.

“We had a rough week earlier with a close loss to Morgan City on Tuesday and a bad effort against Ellender on Friday, but we came ready to play hard on Saturday,” said LaBella. “Jenae (Marshall) is our only senior, and she’s been a great leader for us. She refused to let anybody on the team just go through the motions. There is no quit in her, and I think her attitude rubbed off on a lot of the other players in those two games.”