The GHS Kittens quest for the state championship ended Tuesday night as the Arcadia Hornets dominated the Kittens 62-45. GHS Kittens battled through adversity, played with toughness, responded to every challenge thrown at them, but it just wasn’t enough to slow down the Louisiana Division 1A top seat Arcadia Hornets.
On this night, the Hornets showed people why they were the top seed.
With the win, the Hornets move closer to a shot at the state championship in Lafayette later this month.
Grambling High and Acadia are bitter rivals, that are separated by a very short distance and are very evenly matched on paper.
GHS Kittens have faced Arcadia Hornets three times this season and each of these games were decided in the final minutes of regulation.
With a chance at a state title, this game had to be good, and, at the end of the night, it was all Hornets.
The Kittens were outplayed in the first half, trailing 30-20 at intermission, they responded with momentum penetrating the ball hard up the court creating three point plays, drawing fouls, by pulling the game within reach.
Despite the adversity, Kittens still had opportunity to win the game but mistakes and crucial turnovers late in the fourth quarter erased their chances of wining.
One of the deciding factor of the Kittens fate, was that they failed to score points do the stretch.
In the end, Acradia was too much for Grambling this night, and the three games that were decided by few points, the fourth game was won by 17 points.
After the game,GHS Kittens Head Coach Chris Oney commented after the game.
“They were just who they were,” said Oney.
” They were an experienced veteran basketball team and my hat goes off to them.”
Despite the outcome of the game, Oney was proud of the way his team played.
“I loved my teams performance, I couldn’t asked for anything else but a win. I thought we fought, competed, and rose up to the challenge.”
Even though the Kittens season is over they have a lot to be proud of. They had a very good season and they made the playoffs. First year Coach Chris Oney, has did a outstanding job and next yea this team will be back in the championship race.