Defending Division II state champion St. Louis Catholic will make its fourth consecutive appearance at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association state tournament today.

That experience has allowed the Saints (30-3) to stay focused on its semifinal game against No. 4 Ben Franklin (23-11) at 6:30 p.m. at the Alario Center in Westwego. In the other semifinal at 8:15 p.m., No. 2 Vandebilt Catholic (24-3) will face No. 3 St. Thomas More (24-7).

“It is still a stressful time of the year for us and the kids, but the kids are still focused,” St. Louis head coach Tony Johnson said. “That is the one thing I know about being battled by going the last three years.

“We know what to expect once we get there and all that good stuff.”

The Saints enter the semifinals on a 13-game win streak led by its defensive play, holding opponents to an average of 37.2 points a game.

“All season, we have preached that defense is going to win us another championship, and it showed the other night,” Johnson said. “We started so fast on defense with a lot of turnovers. Defense is a thing we stress. We want to play fast.”

With the defense setting the tone, the Saints shot 60 percent in its quarterfinal win over De La Salle.

“Defense is helping us get to the easy buckets,” Johnson said. “The other night against De La Salle, we shot 60 percent from the field, and that is unheard of.

“That is how we are looking at it, defense is going to win it.”

The Saints have seven seniors, led by Myca Trail, the 2021 Class 3A state MVP who will play in her fourth semifinal game.

The UL-Monroe signee averages 18.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and six steals per game.

“A coach only gets this kind of player once in a lifetime,” Johnson said. “She is a special player on the floor and in the classroom academically.

“She is a 3.9 student, I think. That is a true leader. She does everything the right way and doesn’t want to be wrong. She plays hard and does all the little things because we expect a lot out of her. She is out on the front of the press hunting with (Tia) Reder. That is big for us. They do big things for us.”

Ben Franklin is making its first-ever appearance at the state tournament after beating Ursuline Academy 52-33 in the quarterfinals led by guard Petra Trumbach’s 16-point, 14-rebound double-double.

“Ben Franklin is a newcomer,” Johnson said. “We don’t know a whole lot about them but what I have seen on film.

“They are very scrappy and very physical on the offensive boards. They are a typical team out of New Orleans that plays real physical and try to make you do things to turn the ball over. I think that we will be prepared to play against these guys.”

Boys basketball

The LHSAA released the boys basketball playoff brackets Monday afternoon.

Three Southwest Louisiana teams received top-five seeds in Class 3A No. 5 Iowa, Class B No. 4 Lacassine and Division IV No. 4 Hamilton Christian.

Hamilton Christian will host No. 13 Hanson Memorial today at 6:30 p.m. in a regional playoff game.

Iowa will host No. 28 Sci Academy while Lacassine got a bye in the first round.

There will be a pair of local district rematches in the first round.

In Class 5A, No. 13 Barbe (25-5) hosts No. 20 Sulphur (20-14). The Bucs won both district games by eight points.

No. 13 Washington-Marion (13-10) will get another crack at No. 20 Rayne (19-15) in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs. Rayne beat the Charging Indians 58-56 to end the regular season.