BATON ROUGE – The classrooms at Glen Oaks High School on Tuesday were calm.

WWL-TV

Members of Helen Cox (red uniforms) and Glen Oaks (white uniforms) have a moment of silence after their playoff game to remember Shannon Veal, Glen Oaks' star player who died Monday night during a game between the two teams. The contest was finished Tuesday.

No talking back to teachers from students. No barking orders at students by teachers.

But the quiet was not the good kind.

“It was eerily quiet all day,” Glen Oaks principal Wilbert August said. “You could look in classes and see it in their faces – no brightness in them.”

Fewer than 24 hours after classmate and basketball standout Shannon Veal died after passing out on the court near the end of the first half in a playoff game, the school honored her in the only way it knew how.

Glen Oaks finished off its regional against Helen Cox, beating the Cougars 67-40 in front of a full gymnasium on the Panthers’ campus.

They came from all over – Southern Lab, Lagrange, Redemptorist, Denham Springs. Even LSU’s women’s basketball team made the trek to north Baton Rouge from their riverside campus.

“We made it our business,” said standout Lady Tiger Sylvia Fowles. “Coaches made it known we had to come out here and show support.”

Added Southern Lab’s Nicki Talbert, “She was a close friend to all of us. We came to show her support.”

Courtesy WAFB

Shannon Veal, pictured on the bottom right

Veal’s family attended the game, and prior to the game, August asked for a moment of silence to remember her.

“We knew she had diabetes, but to die all of a sudden in her prime…,” August said. “She hadn’t even reached her prime. She was 17.”

Yet, according to head coach Harold Boudreaux, Veal herself wasn’t far from the action.

“Veal was here tonight,” he said. “That’s the strange part about it. She was here tonight in spirit, in coaching, in teaching, in everything we needed to give our kids tonight. She was a big part of it. I promise you.”

Boudreaux’s Panthers weren’t alone in feeling the burden of witnessing a catastrophic event first-hand.

Barbara Weary’s Lady Cougars, too, were affected. Sure, they had to drive back to Baton Rouge from their Harvey campus to finish the game. It’s more than that, though.

“It was something in my 16 years coaching, I’ve never experienced anything like that before,” she said. “It was devastating. I think the kids, the players, the fans, everyone that witnessed that, it will be something they witness forever. They’ll have flashbacks.

“It was very dramatic for the girls to experience something like that.”

She added, “My sympathy goes out to them. I have student-athletes that I coach. You’re heart goes out to a child who was coming out here doing something she loved. They have a lot of things going on in the streets. But she was out here playing a simple game of basketball, doing something she loved.”

And she still helped her Panthers get a win to move into the Elite 8 of the state tournament. She finished with 13 points, second-highest on the team. She helped pace her team to an insurmountable 14-poind lead before she collapsed.

“It was hard not seeing that 25,” Boudreaux said. “I give it to my kids. They came out. They held their composure. They played under control. They showed everything we teach as coaches. Leadership. Togetherness. Family within the team. What more can you ask for? Twenty-five will be missed and that’s Shannon Veal.”

Glen Oaks now will play LaGrange for the right to get to the Final 4. It’s safe to say Veal will be in the team’s thoughts, and she’ll likely be there watching over them.