LeBlond wins district championship, beats East Atchison 54-38
Feb. 27—ROSENDALE, Mo. — It may have taken a fair amount of time, but with their 54-38 win over East Atchison on Friday at North Andrew, the Bishop LeBlond girls can proclaim themselves the Class 2 District 16 Champions for the first time in 14 years.
The last time the Golden Eagles took home that plaque was in 2007, and the last time they had even made the district championship was in 2011 — coincidentally, head coach Jackie Ziesel's senior year at LeBlond.
"It's definitely a different experience as a coach," Ziesel said. "Playing in that situation in high school and having that atmosphere at least, you can kind of calm the girls down and get them into that mindset of staying calm and doing what needed to be done."
Someone who has been along for the ride through Ziesel's coaching experience is junior Sloan Lewis, the lone starter on the team above the 10th grade and one of only two upperclassmen on the roster.
Lewis spoke on the ups and downs she's experienced in her three seasons with the program.
"All the hard work definitely pays off. I'm pretty much the only one who knows what it feels like to really just be down at the bottom," she said. "It feels like we really got what we deserve, to come out and win this game."
Early indications from the first quarter predicted a low-scoring game, as Lewis connected on a buzzer-beating shot to take an underwhelming 8-7 lead after one.
LeBlond kept pace with a series of runs from the Wolves, and led at the half 23-19 at the half.
But they had yet to play their best basketball of the game. They extended their lead to 10 midway through the third quarter, taking firm control of a game that had to that point been completely up for grabs.
"We just knew we had to win," sophomore Shae Lewis said of their second half performance. "We knew we needed to make shots, so we just came out here thinking positive and doing all that we could."
Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Eagles finally took off offensively. They scored 21 points in the final period to put the nail in East Atchison's coffin, going 7-for-8 from the line in the waning minutes.
Scoring was well-distributed across the starting five. Sophomores Katie Beam, Emma Raines, Tatum Studer and Lewis as well as the elder Lewis accounted for 9, 9, 10, 12 and 14 points respectively to make up the entirety of the team's point total.
Studer spoke on the team's unselfish attitude, even in the face of the biggest game of their young careers.
"We mesh really well as a team, we always have that telepathy," she said. "We know where each other are at all time."
LeBlond combined for just six total wins in Ziesel's first two seasons, but this taste of true success makes all of those years in the cellar worthwhile for the Eagles' coach.
"It's totally worth it, totally worth it. Us coaches, we battle through a lot throughout the whole season. It takes a toll on our bodies and our minds just like the girls," she said. "But this is why we coach. We love the players, we love the game, we love the atmosphere. But now that we've got the district title we've got to keep going."
LeBlond will travel to play in the first round of the state playoffs against Plattsburg on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Levi Smith can be reached at levi.smith@newspressnow.com.
