St. Andre provides senior leadership to her Lady Warrior team on way to a second round playoff appearance

For any team or organization to be successful, it takes a person to rise up and be a leader while navigating the rest of the group through the good times and the bad.
That was the case for the only senior on the court for the Oakdale Lady Warrior basketball team in the 2018-2019 season.
Because of  her efforts on the court, Ke’Maesha St. Andre was named as the first All-Parish Most Valuable Player in girls’ basketball.
For St. Andre, it feels good to be named MVP, but she knows all the recognition goes to her team.
“It was rocky being that I was the only leader on the team,” she said. “I had help from Lauren (Holmes) coming around  and shooting more. It just took a while for us to come around, but we tied for district. Overall, I couldn’t ask for a better team to play on.”
Being that she was the only senior on the team, St. Andre had her trepidations on the season at the beginning.
“I didn’t think we would make it very far,” she said. “I didn’t even think we would go to the playoffs, but we did. It just took a lot of time, hardwork, and dedication.”
It also took leadership from the senior Lady Warrior as her team found its way losing 11 of its first 17 games.
However once the team entered the team entered its district part of the season, the Lady Warriors, as St. Andre said, flipped a switch.
“We wanted to win the district title again, and that was our goal this year,” she said. “We turned it up in district and played more aggressive, shot more, listened and tried to talk more with each other, and help each other out as best as we could.”
In district play, St. Andre’s Lady Warriors went 9-1. Their only loss in district was to the East Beauregard squad on the road in late January. As a result, both clubs tied for the district title.
“We could have come out with another win against East Beauregard,” St. Andre said, “but we didn’t have the faith in it once we got down. We gave up a little bit, and we didn’t really play as hard as we did in the beginning. It was just something we had to deal with.”
A share for the district title meant Oakdale was ranked as the 15th seed once the Class 2A playoff brackets were released. That translated into a home playoff game against 18th seeded Livingston Collegiate.
It also translated into another opportunity where St. Andre carried her team as she scored 43 of the 53 points.
“I wanted to win and go to the second round,” she said. “So, the more I shot meant the more shots that fell. I really didn’t notice that I had 43 points until after the game. I wasn’t really paying attention to me scoring. I was just shooting and trying to get a win for my team.”
St. Andre’s team then lost in the second round to second seeded North Caddo. Even with the loss, the Oakdale senior knows it was a successful season.
“I enjoyed every bit of it,” she expressed. “I enjoyed playing with the team and the practices. It was a lot of laughter and  good and bad moments, but, through it all, we still stuck together.”
She continued, “I look at this team as my little sisters.”
St. Andre now looks to attend college where she wants to major in physical education. She also looks to taking her basketball game to the next level and does not rule out playing overseas.