By T. Scott Boatright
After seeing her Ruston High Bearcats girls basketball team fall in a sluggish season opener on the road, first year RHS coach LaShanda Smith-Cooper had one main mission in mind — defending their home court.
And for Cooper and her Bearcats Tuesday night, it was a mission accomplished.
Ruston overcame a low start to take control in the final stanza as the Bearcats rolled past Minden 44-35 at the RHS Main Gym.
A milestone is always memorable, and getting that first home win after falling 53-40 at Benton on Monday is something that Cooper will long remember.
Even better for the defensive-minded was finding out her team is listening and practicing what she’s preaching.
“It’s an awesome feeling — a great feeling,” said LaShanda Cooper. “The main thing that I liked the most was that the girls really bought into defense for this game.
“Before we got ready to come out and in our pregame warmups, I talked to them and told them that we’ve got to be a defensive team. Offensive comes and goes, but defense, you’ve got to have heart to play defense. And once I gave them that speech, they just locked in and got the job done.”
Ruston trailed 9-3 at the end of the opening stanza but rallied back in the second quarter to take an 18-17 advantage into the locker room at halftime thanks to a Journi Douglas layup with 15 seconds left in the period.
Minden pulled back within one point of the Bearcats in the opening minute of the third quarter, but 3-point baskets by Gioia Tatum and Bailee Harrison helped push the RHS lead to 26-23 heading into the final stanza.
The Bearcats then turned up their defense, going on a 9-1 run to move out on top 35-26 after Samiya Lewis got a fortunate bounce off of the rim as the ball fell back into the net on the way down to lift Ruston to a nine-point lead with 3:16 remaining.
Cooper was especially pleased with her team’s defensive effort during that stretch.
“It was a great feeling,” Cooper said. “Anytime we’re in a press and they get to a point where they’re running to their spots and they’re jumping with energy, and talking — a lot of times those high school kids don’t like to talk defensively. Why I don’t know, because outside of the gym they’re always talking about everything.
“But once we got them to buy into the talking and having each other’s back and when we’re not in the right rotation telling their teammate to drop — to be able to do your job and their job, it’s a good thing and I really think that happened tonight.”
The Bearcats built as much as a 12-point lead with 1:46 remaining on a Tatum layup, but it was seeing Lewis and Douglas both hit both of their free throw attempts on 1-and-1 situations in the final minute that Cooper said gave her team something else to build on.
“In the beginning, we were missing free throws left and right,” Cooper said. “I told them that, ‘Hey, you can’t go back and get those. It’s already gone. The only thing you can do is fix the future. You can’t fix the past, but you can fix the future.’
“I told them that in the layup zone, focus. And honestly, we have 5 a.m. (practices). So they come in and are doing all this shooting. I told them that they are protecting their home court. They have home advantage. You shoot in this gym every single day.”
Tatum led the Bearcats with 10 points while Lewis and Douglas added nine each.
Harrison chipped in with seven points for Ruston while Jasmine Summerford 6 chipped in with six.
“Samiya really stepped up tonight and made some big shots for us,” Cooper said. “Defensively she was active and all over the floor with rotations. She really had a good night.”
Cooper said she saw her team grow in that final stanza with that free-throw shooting and pressure defense.
“It was a confidence boost,” Cooper said. “The main thing is building up their confidence. They make mistakes and drop their heads. Miss a free throw and head drops, we’re guaranteed to miss the second.
“So it’s just a matter of trusting the process and getting them to understand that they’re going to make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. You’ve just got to get better.”
Ruston (1-1) gets an opportunity to continue getting better as the Bearcats play at Parkway in a game set to tip off at 6:30 tonight.
