By Malcolm Butler
Mary Grace Hawkins had a nightmare performance at the free throw line in Cedar Creek’s 56-51 road win over Lincoln Prep a few weeks ago.
Hawkins missed 10 of her 13 attempts that night although the Lady Cougars were able to escape with the win.
On Tuesday night with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Hawkins more than made up for it.
The freshman point guard connected on 8-of-10 in the final stanza and 12-of-19 for the game to help lead the Lady Cougars (15-11, 4-1) to a 66-54 victory at the Brickhouse.
Hawkins and fellow point guard Caroline James combined to hit 15-of-19 in the fourth quarter as the Lady Cougars scored their final 16 points of the game at the charity stripe. It was a game that included 49 fouls and 65 total free throw attempts between the two teams with Creek hitting 25-of-43 and Lincoln Prep making 8-of-22.
“Since Christmas I feel like we have been struggling at the free throw line,” said Cedar Creek head coach Katie Hall. “We missed 16 against OCS the other night. We missed 21 at Lincoln Prep. We missed 14 last night against West Monroe. We have put an emphasis on free throws.
“I don’t want to overemphasize it where it’s in their head, but they just have to know they need to knock them down and relax. They were very big tonight. Caroline has always been a good free throw shooter for us. If we could just have those two shoot all of them.”
Hawkins scored a career-high 21 points in the win, including nine in a third quarter that saw the Lady Cougars extend their eight point halftime lead out to 47-34.
James opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer at the 7:01 mark to push the lead to 50-34, a field goal that would be the last of the game for the Lady Cougars.
With Creek leading 50-38 with 6:54 to play, James was fouled shooting a three-pointer. She stepped to the line and calmly sank all three of the attempts, including her first after which a technical foul was called against #4 for Lincoln Prep.
By the time James hit 4-of-5 during the one sequence, the Lady Cougars lead was 16.
Lincoln Prep (9-16, 2-3) battled all night long, not only against the Lady Cougars but also foul trouble. Asijah Wright, Cali Cotton and Jayleen Spann all fouled out for the Lady Panthers during the game-deciding fourth quarter as Lincoln Prep was whistled for 30 fouls in the game.
Creek built a 60-38 lead when Hall pulled all of her starters with just over three minutes to play in the game. Lincoln Prep was able to cut into the deficit, closing it as close as 61-48 after back-to-back three-pointers by Synniah Spann with just under two minutes to play.
“I am proud of our girls for keeping their cool,” said Hall. “It was a physical game. It did get sloppy at the end, but it was good for them to go through the muck. I wanted to rest some of our starters. With a game Thursday and potentially another one after that, I wanted to give some others a chance to play. I wish we could have finished a little stronger, but I’m proud of how we competed.”
Synniah Spann led the Lady Panthers with 17 points while Jayleen Spann added 11 points and Wright chipped in with 9 points.
In addition to Hawkins 21-point effort, James added 14 points, Mallory Smith scored 13 points and Zoey Venters netted 10 points.
The Lady Cougars win kept them in a two-way tie with OCS, a 50-14 win over St. Frederick, in the District 2-1A race. Creek hosts St. Fred’s Thursday night while OCS hosts Lincoln Prep.
If the two teams both win, there could be a district tie-breaker game with a power point on the line.
“It’s depends on Thursday night,” said Hall. “(Stan Humphries) and I did discuss it, but also tabled it until this week plays out. But we had to start get the ball rolling but nothing has been finalized.”
