By Malcolm Butler
Forgive Ruston High coach Meredith Graf if she gets a little emotional when talking about this year’s senior class and their impact on the Lady Bearcats program.
It comes from the heart.
Graf watched her senior-laden team overcome a sluggish first half en route to a 39-29 win over West Monroe Friday night at Scotty Robertson Memorial Gym to clinch the District 2-5A title.
The Ruston seniors combined to score 34 of the 39 points in the win as the Lady Bearcats clinched their second district title in the past three seasons.
“This senior class as a whole has done so much for this program,” said Graf. “They are the foundation that have really helped shift us into the next gear as far as this program goes. That’s invaluable.
“To have the high quality of people that they are along with their great work ethic and great hearts … they want to be there for each other. They want to do the right thing on and off the floor. That really does carry over onto your team as far as the basketball aspect goes.”
This year’s Ruston senior class was recognized postgame as Jaliyah McWain, A’Niya Moore, Zaccheya Jackson, Aakeyliah Jones, Jordan Tate and Skylaar Spencer were honored.
Jackson led Ruston with 12 points and McWain added 10 points as the Lady Bearcats improved to 21-7, 5-0 in district action.
However, the win didn’t come easy.
“Tonight was tough,” said Graf. “There were so many distractions. I felt like our team was focused but we just didn’t shoot that well. I thought we got good opportunities. I thought we executed the way we wanted to. We weren’t finishing the way we wanted to and I didn’t feel like we were knocking down some of our shots that really could have separated us from the score.”
West Monroe (16-10, 3-2), who entered the game on a six-game winning streak including a 50-40 victory over Cedar Creek in its last outing Monday, battled from the opening tip. The Rebels led 8-6 after the first quarter and pushed it to 17-14 with 1:20 to play in the second quarter.
However, Ruston got a layup from Spencer and a conventional three-point play by Jackson in the closing minute to enter the lockerroom with a 19-17 advantage.
“Give West Monroe credit,” said Graf. “They have some size and they played really tough. They mixed up their defenses and that kept us off our offensive rhythm a little bit.”
After West Monroe tied the score 19-19 early in the third quarter, the Lady Bearcats began to turn up their defensive pressure. McWain stole a pass and took it coast-to-coast for a 21-19 lead and then Jackson followed with back-to-back-to-back buckets, including the final one after a steal.
Two minutes later McWain recorded another steal and fastbreak bucket and Jones followed with a jumper to complete a 12-2 run and a 31-21 Ruston lead.
“That was our best quarter,” said Graf. “Getting those transition baskets gets our motor running. When we can do that, it works to our strength. I was really pleased with that.”
Leading by eight entering the final quarter, Ruston scored the first six points of the stanza to open up a 37-23 lead with 5 minutes to play as McWain netted four points during the mini-run.
West Monroe would pull to within 37-29 with two minutes to play but the Rebels would get no closer.
“Overall, I think it was a wonderful night,” said Graf. “A win is a win. And to be able to recognize our kids the way we did, it was special.”
Ruston will find out its playoff seeding and pairings on Monday.
