By T. Scott Boatright
HAMMOND — The Lady Cougars fought from start to finish and had their chances late in the game.
But it wasn’t meant to be Saturday afternoon as top-seeded Southern Lab outlasted second-seeded Cedar Creek 67-57 in the championship game of the LHSAA Girls Division IV Select School playoffs inside Southeastern Louisiana’s University Center.
It’s the second straight state title for Southern Lab, which defeated Cedar Creek in the quarterfinals round of last year’s contest.
That game wasn’t close. But Saturday’s contest was an entirely different story — a thriller that kept Cougar fans hoping until the game’s final minute.
Cedar Creek came out firing on all cylinders to open the contest, going on a 7-1 run in the first 2:01 of play.
“That was our game plan — starting strong,” said Cedar Creek coach Katie Hall. “I didn’t know what their thoughts on us were going into the game, but they have had a lot of blowout wins. They blew us out last year.
“But we’re a different team than we were last year mentally, and I loved our chances. We believed the whole time. We believed leading up to this championship game. I think that’s why I’m so disappointed, because of how much I believe in our girls and this team. We were ready.”
But the Lady Cougars had already turned the ball over five times in the first three minutes in the first three minutes, something that would foreshadow how the game’s outcome would go, as Southern Lab committed only 13 turnovers on the day compared to 23 for Cedar Creek.
Cedar Creek led the entire first quarter, with Avery Ryan hitting the opening basket of the contest and Mary Grace Hawkins sinking a 3-pointer with 58 seconds on the clock that gave the Lady Cougars a 15-12 advantage heading into the second quarter.
Southern Lab opened the second quarter with a 4-0 run that gave the Kittens their first lead of the game at 16-15 42 seconds into the stanza, but Cedar Creek rebounded with a 5-0 run of its own.
The game was tied at 25-25 with 2:40 left in the first half, but Southern Lab closed out strong thanks to Kori Wesley nailing back-to-back 3-pointers.
Ryan hit the first of two free throw attempts with 19 seconds that cut the Lady Kittens’ lead to 31-26 heading into the locker rooms at halftime.
“That was huge,” Hall said of Wesley’s back-to-back treys in the final 1:28 of the first half. “It’s one of those things where we were just trying to pick our poison just trying to keep (the Lady Kittens) out of the paint because they’re so good at getting in the lane and either dishing off or finishing around the rim.
“So that was one of our gameplans going in — make them try the outside shots. But we also knew who their key shooters were, with (Wesley) being one of them. Once she hit those two we knew we had to get a little closer and close the gap on her. But those two shots were pretty big daggers.”
Southern Lab controlled the early part of the third quarter before the Lady Cougars went on a 6-0 run that cut the Lady Kittens’ lead to 40-36.
But momentum soon bounced the other way as Southern Lab closed out the quarter with a 12-2 run to build a 52-38 advantage heading into the final stanza.
The Kittens led 62-53 after a Forman layup with 2:35 remaining, but that was in the midst of a 10-2 run that helped the Lady Cougars cut the Southern Lab lead to five points at 62-57 with 1:55 on the clock.
Hawkins’ spinning layup followed by Taylor Martinez taking it to the basket were the final two baskets of Cedar Creek’s run before Southern Lab’s Clark stopped and popped a short jumper in the lane to push the Kittens’ lead back to seven at 64-57 with 1:29 remaining.
“We called a timeout and I told them they had four minutes left to do a little gut check and put everything on the line,” Hall said. “We changed up our defense to apply more pressure and that gave us a little boost of energy and showed the girls they still had a little gas left in the tank.”
Cedar Creek had one final chance after the Kittens committed an over and back turnover with 46.5 seconds left on the clock.
But the late comeback wasn’t meant to be this time.
“Unfortunately they hit a couple of easy baskets where the 50-50 ball went their way and then we missed a layup,” Hall said. “I think that if that could have swung things and given us a chance (to pull off the late win). But I was proud of our effort in not quitting.”
Cedar Creek had one final chance after the Kittens committed an over and back turnover with 46.5 seconds left on the clock.
Martinez led Cedar Creek’s balanced offensive attack with 13 points with Ryan and Alivia Lee chipping in with 12 points each and Caroline James and Hawkins both adding 10 points.
“She’s a clutch player for me,” Hall said about Martinez’ performance. “No moment is too big for her. I know she had a tall task with the defenders on her like they were. That’s hard. I experienced that as a point guard. She may have nightmares about that tonight, because (Southern Lab) is a good defensive team and they focused on her.”
In the end, that 23-13 turnover margin proved to be one of the biggest factors in the game’s outcome.
“That was one of our keys — I knew that if we could keep the turnovers down we would have a chance,” Hall said. “I figured that the total number of turnovers committed by the end of the game would determine whether it was going to be a win or loss.
“I’m proud of this team. I’m proud of their effort. But I’m still disappointed because we had a chance. It just didn’t happen.”
