By Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek’s second round playoff win might not have been a huge shocker.
The score was.
The No. 9 seeded Lady Cougars traveled to Metairie and handed No. 8 seed St. Martin’s Episcopal a 70-34 defeat Monday night to advance to the quarterfinals in the first season under head coach Katie Hall.
After defeating No. 24 seed Slaughter Community Charter 66-22 in the first round Friday night, the Lady Cougars anticipated a much tougher match-up against St. Martin’s Episcopal.
They didn’t get it.
Mallory Smith scored 24 points, Caroline James added 12 points and Leah Sutherland 10 points as the Lady Cougars led almost from start to finish.
“I think our defense wore them down,” said head coach Katie Hall. “We created some turnovers from the press. We struggled defending their one guard at time. We couldn’t keep her in front of us. But our defensive effort was really good. We kept mixing it up. We kept changing it up. Caroline and Mallory had great games.”
Creek (17-11) found itself trailing 12-10 after the first quarter of action, but from their it was all Lady Cougars. Smith netted seven points in the second quarter, including one of only three three-pointers in the game by the Lady Cougars, as Creek took a 27-20 lead into the halftime lockerroom.
“We missed a lot of shots early,” said Hall. “I mean point blank shots. I told them at halftime not to worry about it. I knew our shots would start to fall.”
Hall was right.
The Lady Cougars came out of the halftime lockerroom and outscored St. Martin’s Episcopal 20-7 to extend the advantage to 47-27 at the end of the third quarter. Smith scored nine points in the frame while Sutherland added five points.
“They pressed some in the second half,” said Hall. “But they only played six players. I think we wore them down and they just ran out of gas.”
With the opponent sputtering on fumes, Creek put the pedal to the metal in the fourth quarter, outscoring SME 23-7 to pull away for the 36-point win. James netted 10 points in the final stanza for the Lady Cougars.
“I was proud of the girls,” said Hall. “We had great energy. We were ready. We played hard.”
Hall said that although its just one win, she feels its a program builder.
“We had some people I know come watch us that are from south Louisiana,” said Hall. “They said, ‘Coach, I can see how much fun these girls are having. What you are building is fun to watch. Your defense is fantastic.’ That’s the kind of vision and future that I want for this program. I love the direction we are going in.”
With the win, the Lady Cougars will travel back down to south Louisiana later this week to face No. 1 seed Southern Lab (25-7) – a 64-21 winner over St. Mary’s Monday night in their second round contest.
“I am assuming it will be Thursday, but I will find out tomorrow,” said Hall.
