By Malcolm Butler
No. 1 seed Southern Lab showed why its been to the Select School Division IV state title game each of the past two years.
The Kittens defeated No. 9 seed Cedar Creek 56-16 Thursday night at Clifford T. Seymour Gym on the campus of Southern University, ending the Lady Cougars season.
However, even in a lopsided defeat, first year Lady Cougars head coach Katie Hall chose to look at the big picture.
“I loved our energy the entire year,” said Hall. “I feel like we have been emphasizing that all season. We played with fun. We played with joy. We played with love and excitement. I can’t say enough how excited I am about what we are building.”
Southern Lab (26-7) used a tenacious man-to-man, full-court defense to hold the Lady Cougars (18-12) to just 3-of-26 shooting and 39 turnovers in the season finale for Hall’s team.
“They were good,” said Hall. “I thought we may have done a better job of taking care of the ball, but credit Southern Lab. They are just good. They sped us up. They got us out of our comfort zone and we struggled to score.
“It was hard to sit back in the zone. We like to press and create turnovers with our defense, but we didn’t feel like we could do that. When we did press we had some success. But at the end of the day, they are just really good.”
Southern Lab hit 9-of-18 field goals in the first quarter to jump out to a 21-5 advantage as the Lady Cougars hit just 1-of-11 field goals. The Kittens continued to press and cause chaos with their defense in the second quarter, taking a 35-8 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Lady Cougars were never able to find any type of offensive rhythm in the second half as Southern Lab advanced to the state semifinals.
Despite the loss, Hall said she appreciated the effort and the work of her players this season.
“I am very grateful,” said Hall. “I thought it was a great season. The seniors bought in and made it a fun year. They were committed and competed. Even tonight. They never took a play off even getting beaten as badly as we were. It trickled down to all of the players.”
Mallory Smith led Cedar Creek with five points while Leah Sutherland added four points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Southern Lab was led by Asia Patin with 20 points, nine steals, seven assists and five rebounds.
“I was able to point out to the players that will be returning that this is what it will look like if we want to get to that next level,” said Hall. “It’s going to take all of us working, not just one or two. We need to work hard and let this be our driving force in the off-season.”
