HOT BERNER—Poncha-toula’s Megen Berner puts up a jumper over Capitol’s Dominique Robinson in the Lady Wave’s 62-52 victory Sunday. By Mike Kiral

PONCHATOULA — Ponchatoula was forced to play a different style of offense against Capitol Sunday evening but the Lady Wave were able to adjust for a 62-52 victory on the second day of the Ponchatoula Kiwanis Lady Wave Christmas Shootout.

The Lady Wave (19-3) had to play a faster-paced game but were able to hold off Capitol, currently the top-ranked team in Class 3A.

“They definitely made us play a different style tonight,” Ponchatoula head coach Justin Adams said. “I think our kids adjusted to our game plan real well. We had to do some crazy things tonight but the kids did it and did it well and made a quick adjustment. That’s the sign that they are growing up and are able to adjust on a second’s notice.”

St. Thomas Aquinas also made adjustments after halftime in a 49-35 win over Pineville earlier in the day.

“We talked about how to attack their 2-3 (zone),” St. Thomas head coach John White said of halftime in which the Lady Falcons led 29-24. “I thought we did a real good job of attacking their zone defense the whole night. I thought we did a good job of handling their zone press too. Defense is where it starts and we played real good defense.”

Loranger rallied late but fell short in a 40-39 loss to Teurlings Catholic in the Shootout Sunday. And Lafayette used two big quarters to hand Albany a 50-31 defeat.

In other games at the tournament Sunday, St. Michael bounced back from a opening day loss to defeat South Lafourche, 63-40. West Monroe edged Walker, 57-53, Denham Springs got past Natchitoches Central, 65-58, and Hahnville defeated New Iberia, 43-26.

In boys’ action, Hammond moved on to the championship game of the Plaquemine Green Devil Classic with a 50-47 victory over Helen Cox Saturday night. The Tors will play the winner of Monday night’s Plaquemine-Albany contest for the title tonight at 8:30 p.m.

Ponchatoula advanced to the championship game of the South Pike (Miss.) Tournament before losing to McComb, 76-64.

The Green Wave opened the tournament with a 74-65 win over Alpha Christian Friday night. Jeff Miller led the Wave with 16 points while Javeon Walker scored 14 and Joseph Green 13.

Walker poured in 27 points in a 74-59 win over South Pike Saturday morning. Tim Sheppard added 10 points and Danny Dunn and Eldrid Palmer had eight apiece.

Walker had another 29 points in the title game while Miller contributed 12.

St. Thomas Aquinas also played for the title at the Sunkist Shootout Monday night against host St. Thomas More in Lafayette. Raymone Andrews scored 30 points as the Falcons slipped past Ouachita, 67-63, in the semifinals Sunday. St. Thomas had advanced with a 51-37 win over Midfield, Ala. Saturday.

Lady Wave

Christmas Shootout

Ponchatoula 62, Capitol 52

Capitol kept making runs at Ponchatoula but the Lady Wave kept answering to defeat their second top five team in as many nights.

Ponchatoula extended a 29-24 halftime lead to 10 behind a three-point play by Antopinette Pea and a jumper by Megen Berner with 5:25 left in the third quarter. Capitol got to within 34-29 as Kishaun Williams scored off a steal by Dominique Robinson. But Pea, playing in a guard spot, scored six points in the final; 1:40, the last on a hook off a pass from Chelsee LaMarca, to make it 41-33 at the end of the third quarter.

Berner scored nine straight points for Ponchatoula, giving the Lady Wave a 56-39 lead with a drive down the lane with three minutes remaining.

Ponchatoula jumped out to an 8-2 lead before Capitol pulled to within 11-8 on a putback by Robinson. Hannah Fletcher found Berner for a short jumper to make it 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Two layups by Pea extended the lead to 19-8 with six minutes left in the half. Fletcher banked in a 3-pointer and Berner converted a three-point play to give the Lady Wave a 27-15 lead with under four minutes left. Two layups by Robinson and a one by Naketa Roberts got Capitol to within five. Roberts then found Williams inside, but Casey Canon hit a jumper for the 29-24 halftime lead.

Berner had a game-high 25 points for Ponchatoula. Pea tossed in 19 points and Fletcher 11.

Robertson had 18 points, Roberts 16 and Williams 12 for Capitol (12-2).

St. Thomas Aq. 49, Pineville 35

St. Thomas Aquinas extended a 25-19 lead to 15 with an 11-2 run to start the second half. Kelseigh Hughes hit a jumper, Megen Kinchen and Christy Shelby drained 3-pointers and Casey Buie drove in for a layup to make it 36-22 with 2:10 left in the quarter.

The lead grew to 16 as Hughes broke the Pineville press to find Leanne Towle downcourt. Tarri Taylor took a steal in, then grabbed another one and fed Arieh County to cut the deficit to 12. But Christina Navarra bounced a pass inside to Kinchen to make it 40-26 at the end of the quarter.

The lead would not slip under 14 again. Navarra’s 3 from the left wing gave the Lady Falcons their biggest lead at 49-31 with 5:30 left in the game.

Pineville tied the game for the last time on a basket by Jessica Johnson with 1:37 left in the first quarter. Navarra scored off an inbounds and a steal by Hughes, then hit a 3 to makie it 20-11 at the end of the quarter.

Navarra made it 10 straight points for St. Thomas with a 3 from the right wing, giving the Lady Falcons a 23-12 lead with 4:42 left in the half. Samantha Hood drove in and Taylor hit a jumper before Rebekah Greer scored to make it 25-19 at the half.

Navarra finished with a game-high 13 points while Towle contributed 10 and Shelby seven.

Teurlings Cath. 40, Loranger 39

Teurlings Catholic led by seven with under two minutes left before Loranger finished with a furious rally.

Kimberly Culbreath’s jumper made it 38-34 with 1:30 remaining. After a free throw by Teurlings’ Samantha Roy, Culbreath drove in to cut the deficit to three. Julia Pollard hit another free throw to make it 40-36 with 12.4 seconds left. Tina Booth drained a long 3-pointer from the left wing but time expired before the Lady Wolves could call a timeout.

Loranger had rallied from a 20-12 halftime deficit with a 14-1 run to start the second half. Kallie Populis drove the lane to tie the game at 20 with 4:20 left in the quarter. Culbreath scored twice and Baileigh Bankston added a layup for a 26-21 lead. Kaitlyn Moreau hooked in a shot and hit two free throws to cut the deficit to 28-27.

The Lady Rebels kept the run going into the fourth quarter. A drive by Roy made it 36-28 with 2:54 remaining.

Culbreath had 12 points and Bankston 11 for Loranger. Roy and Pollard had 11 apiece for Teurlings.

Lafayette 50, Albany 31

Lafayette used an 11-2 run in the first quarter and a 15-1 third quarter spurt for the victory. The Lady Lions led 21-19 at the half and 36-20 at the end of the third quarter.

Ashley Bates led all scorers with 12 points for Albany. Amber Vertrey had 10 for Lafayette.

Sunkist Shootout

Semifinals

St. Thomas Aq. 67, Ouachita 63

Raymone Andrews made 9 of his 10 shots from the field while pulling down eight rebounds and grabbing four steals to lead the Falcons.

Ouachita took an 18-15 lead at the end of the first quarter before St. Thomas rallied to go ahead, 29-28, at the half. Ouachita regained the lead at 43-41, heading into the fourth quarter.

Zay Jackson added 12 points and Blake Duncan eight for the Falcons (14-7).

Ouachita (18-2) was led by Nick Haywood with 20 points, Antonio Landers with 19 and Jeremie Mitchell with 18.

Bracket Play

St. Thomas Aq. 51, Midfield (Ala.) 37

Raymone Andrews scored 19 points and Zay Jackson 10 as the Falcons wrapped up the win over Midfield (Ala.) Saturday.

Zach Reed contributed nine points and Stephen Wronkoski eight for St. Thomas.