When Central Catholic and West St. John face off tonight in the Class 1A girls’ quarterfinal playoff game, CCHS assistant coach Joe Jones said both teams will employ similar styles of play

In West St. John, Jones said his squad will face a quick team who runs the same full and half court press as the Lady Eagles and whose guards are just as quick as CCHS’.

“It will be an interesting matchup,” Jones said Sunday. “I think it will come down to who plays better defense.”

If CCHS does have any advantage, it could be in the deeper bench to choose from, as well as the home court advantage.

“The more (fans) we have, the better it is for our girls,” Jones said. “They cherish playing for family, friends, parents and the school. With that support right there, that would help out a lot. They’re team oriented. They’re school oriented so it really is a plus for our young team.”

WSJ coach Lester Smith said he doesn’t know how his young ball club will react in a playoff atmosphere tonight.

“Thursday night was a large crowd, and they kind of got nervous, but they kind of settled in about two or three minutes into the game,” he said.

However, that game, a 40-37, regional round victory against Southern Lab, was in Edgard.

Smith said he doesn’t know much about CCHS other than some of his players have played AAU basketball with some of CCHS’ players.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle,” he said.

The WSJ squad features two juniors, two freshmen and an eighth grader in the starting lineup.

Smith said the key to a victory would be to stay out of foul trouble and not commit turnovers.

Jones said the Lady Eagles would have to do a good job rebounding, like they did on Thursday against Merryville, are one of the things the Lady Eagles will have to do besides making adjustments to what WSJ throws at them.

“We just have to make the adjustments,” Jones said. “If we make the adjustments and stay out of foul trouble and play good defense, we’ll be fine.”

The game also is significant for CCHS because the Lady Eagles have never advanced past the quarterfinals, falling to Southern Lab in the quarterfinal round in–2002 and 2003.

Today’s game will begin at 7 p.m. at the Matchbox.