VIVIAN

A game highlighted with a little of everything that makes high school basketball special took place on Tuesday night in the North Caddo gym during the top-ranked Lady Rebels’ 63-43 win over Lakeview.

We had some hard fouls, lots of personal fouls, a technical foul and an intentional foul. There were several near fights and some lost supper on the court by a player, who tried to clean up her mess only to be stopped by the officials.

The spew also sent the North Caddo danceline turning their faces aghast after it happened within inches of their performance shoes. And then there was the absence of Lady Rebels superstars Ledetriha Sheppard and Jasmine Thomas for a portion of the third/fourth quarters with leg cramps.

But that was all in a day’s work for the 25-1 Lady Rebels, who ran their District 1-2A record to 6-0 with the win over the scrappy Lady Gators (16-10, 4-3).

“They played us pretty aggressive down there, but there was a lot going on out there tonight,” North Caddo coach Angela Channell said. “When DeDe and Jaz went down, we didn’t have a lot of options. I don’t know if we’ve ever had that much go on in a game.”

Lakeview coach Marjorie Cotton was still contemplating the game as the boys contest tipped off.

“It was a road game and what happened is a lot of what happens on the road,” Cotton said. “Both teams were physical. We just dug ourselves too deep a deficit in the first half to be able to come back.”

North Caddo ruled the game in front of a nearly jam-packed house from the outset. With Thomas, Sheppard, Kassie Harris and Sumer Williams wrecking havoc in the press, the Lady Gators had trouble getting the ball within shooting range. It was three minutes into the contest before the visitors converted their first field goal, as the Lady Rebels raced to a 24-7 first-quarter lead behind the red-hot Thomas. The sophomore scored the first 9 points of the game on the way to a 32-point night.

“It was a weird game, and we had to fight through the injuries,” Thomas said. “We knew we had to take it to them early because we didn’t do that on Friday against Homer, when we didn’t play well.”

Williams was off her usual high-scoring game, but Sheppard pumped in 19 points to keep her team undefeated in the league.

The Lady Gators tried to keep pace and won the fourth quarter 12-6 behind 10 points from Amber Holman. But the 37-19 North Caddo lead at halftime was too much to overcome.