Stella Allison had already put on an absolute show in the second quarter of Friday’s Division-III Non-Select title game before adding a pivotal exclamation point as time expired.
The senior guard caught a pass with less than three seconds remaining and launched a buzzer-beater from nearly three-quarters court that drained cleanly though to push French Settlement ahead by four points at the break.
Allison roared at her teammates and strong showing of fans her entire way off the court, and the No. 1 Lions (31-3) appeared to carry the high-energy right into a huge third quarter that largely put away No. 3 Westlake (22-5) for a 44-36 victory and the program’s first championship since 1964.
“I don’t even know,” the Northwestern State signee laughed on LHSAA Network’s postgame broadcast. “I just knew there was three seconds left, my teammate passed me the ball, and it’s not easy whenever you have a 6-(foot)-3 girl coming right at you with her hands up. I literally just threw the ball as hard as I possibly could and just attempted to make that shot.”
Westlake had eliminated French Settlement from each of the previous three postseasons, the past two quarterfinals and in the 2023 second round.
But Allison’s highlight-reel moment felt like a signal this time would be different.
The shot capped her 13-point quarter and 16-point half that was critical in overcoming a first-quarter knee injury that sidelined junior guard Laney Wilson and an immediate 9-0 Westlake run that followed.
Northwestern State signee Stella Allison helped lead French Settlement to the Division-III Non-Select championship Friday, March 6, 2026. (Photo: LHSAA Network broadcast)
Allison continued her MVP performance after the break, and three other teammates added their highest-scoring quarters of the night in the third as the Lions controlled the period, 19-9, and pushed their lead to 41-27 on a buzzer-beating layup by senior wing Rilan Delaneuville.
And the Rams could never trim their deficit back to single-digits until an inconsequential layup by junior guard Hallie Wilrye as the final buzzer sounded.
“It’s a very special moment,” Delaneuville said. “I will probably cherish this for the rest of my life. It just feels great taking it home with this team because we just became such a close family. And I want to go back to the Laney question. She’s been through this once. She was finally recovering and getting fully back to where she was and stuff, and it happened again. So I think that’s one of the reasons we just really want to give it out to her.”
The entire French Settlement team made their way back to the sideline to hug a tearful Wilson, who missed last season with a torn ACL. And the junior guard eventually crutched across the court as the player selected to place the school’s sticker onto the “Champion” line of the large bracket poster during the celebration.
“When she went down again, I think all of our hearts broke right in that moment,” coach Jake Bourgeois said. “And we think it’s her other knee torn again, so we just wanted her to know that we couldn’t have done this without her.”
French Settlement players and coaches emphasized the importance of junior guard Laney Wilson’s impact on the Lions’ 2026 championship run despite an early knee injury sidelining her in an emotional title game. (Photo: LHSAA Network broadcast)
Allison helped lift the Lions back through those early emotions with 13 of the team’s 14 second-quarter points on her way to 22 for the night, matching the most scored by any player in the day’s five title games at Southeastern Louisiana’s University Center.
She also finished with five rebounds, four assists and four steals in her final high school game.
Delaneuville joined her in double-figures with 11 points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal.
And junior forward Braidy Trabeau chipped in seven points, eight rebounds and two steals.
“Such a special group,” said Bourgeois, who also coached the French Settlement boys to the quarterfinals this week. “I kinda touched on it the other night: I got to watch this girl (Allison) right here and then Rilan and all of them since they were in junior high. I coached ’em in AAU for a year when they were in seventh and eighth grade. And when the opportunity came about to be able to coach both programs and my principal John Chewning allowed me to do both, I couldn’t pass it up.”
Wilrye and freshman forward Laila Roussell led a balanced Westlake lineup with nine points each, along with team-highs of seven rebounds and three blocks by Roussell and seven steals and three assists by Wilrye.
Junior guards Ivy Broussard and Alicia Cuppens and senior forward Kennedi Brown scored seven, six and five, respectively, and combined for nine rebounds, six assists and three steals.
“Proud of my team for accomplishing this,” said Westlake coach Gloria Fontenot of her young Rams team that reaching the program’s first-ever title game. “A lot of people didn’t think we would beat Oak Grove, and they thought that would’ve been impossible. But we proved ’em wrong. And we have a good team. A lot of heart. A lot of grit. It wasn’t our best game tonight, but I’m proud of what they have accomplished, and we’ll be back.”
