Eight men’s and women’s quarterfinal games will be played today and tonight to open the three-day Red River Athletic Conference basketball tournaments at the Rapides Parish Coliseum, including three involving local teams.
One matches them up. At 6:30, the women’s squads from LSU Alexandria and Louisiana Christian University collide.
The LSUA men (25-2), the conference regular-season champion, play at 1:15 against No. 8 seeded Huston-Tillotson (10-14).
LCU’s men (15-13), seeded sixth, meet No. 3 Our Lady of the Lake (16-8) at 9:45 a.m.
Semifinals are Saturday at 1 and 3 for the men, and 5:30/7:30 for the women. Sunday championship games are Sunday at 2 (men) and 4:30 (women).
The women’s team from LSUA (21-7) dropped its regular season finale to RRAC champion LSU Shreveport, 62-61. The Generals had an eight-game winning streak from January 7 to February 15.
The LCU women (10-16) lost their last two games, both in overtime.
The teams played a pair of competitive games this season won by LSUA. The Generals captured an 80-68 win over the Wildcats at The Fort, before recently recording an 87-81 victory in Pineville.
LSUA DOMINATES ALL-RRAC MEN’S HONORS: Senior guard Kashie Natt was a repeat pick as RRAC Player of the Year, won Defensive Player of the Year honors, and LSUA’s Dimario Jackson was Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Generals sophomore guard EJ McQuillan also won first-team recognition. Two other Generals standouts, Jakemin Abney and Jordan Decuir, were honorable mention choices representing a program that reached the nation’s No. 1 ranking earlier this month.
LCU’s first winning season in three years earned all-conference accolades for newcomers Devin Carter (first team) and Bryce Weinmunson (second team), both junior guards.
LCU’S GOFF, LSUA’s MARTIN-HARTWICK NET FIRST-TEAM WOMEN’S ALL-CONFERENCE: Princis Goff, a junior forward at LCU, was the third-leading votegetter on the All-RRAC team and repeated as a first-team all-conference selection. Freshman forward Kylei Leblanc was an honorable mention choice and was runner-up for RRAC Freshman of the Year.
LSUA senior guard Dannah Martin-Hartwick was voted to the All-RRAC first team for a third straight season. Teammate Jewel Jones was a second-team pick while Benedetta Peracchi got honorable mention recognition.