By Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek head coach Katie Hall has been a part of plenty of winning teams during her basketball career.
Whether as a player at Byrd High School and Louisiana Tech University or a coach at Louisiana Tech and now Cedar Creek School, Hall has seen her share of success.
And it’s because of that experience that Hall knows the challenges facing the 2025-26 Lady Cougars following a historic season that saw the program win the District 1-1A title, record a 29-4 mark, and advance to the Select School Division IV championship contest.
Last year, the Lady Cougars snuck up on people.
But after returning four starters and five of their top six scorers from a year ago, this year’s squad will have a target on its back.
“People are looking out for us this year,” said senior guard Caroline James, who averaged 5.1 points and shot a team-high 71 percent from the free throw line. “We are playing a lot of really good teams. For us it’s understanding that we aren’t going to sneak up on people this year.
“We probably won’t win every game. It’s going to be harder with that pressure to get back (to the state title game), but we all know the feeling of getting there. So, no matter how hard it gets, we are ready to take on the challenges.”
James is one of four seniors on this year’s squad, joining Britton Bennett, Taylor Martinez, and Avery Ryan. It’s an experienced, veteran group that played a huge role in last year’s memorable run that ended with a 67-57 loss to Southern Lab in the state title game inside Southeastern Louisiana’s University Center.
The sting of being that close to winning the program’s first ever LHSAA state title but coming up short is fuel for the fire, according to the players.
“It definitely hurt last year because we were so close,” said Ryan, who averaged 12.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game on her way to earning the Most Outstanding Player Award on the all-Lincoln Parish Journal team. “I think that experience and us knowing how close we were last year, I think it gives us a lot of hope and motivation. It makes us hungrier.”
“We obviously want to get back (to the state title game),” said James. “Losing last year really motivated us. It’s a good reminder when we have a hard practice that we have a big goal. It’s our motivation to get back and win this time.”
With a non-district schedule that includes plenty of match-ups against higher classification programs, the Lady Cougars will be battled-tested by the time the postseason rolls around.
Some of those games include tournaments hosted by West Monroe, St. Thomas More, and Natchitoches Central as well as single games against Neville, Northwood, Minden, West Ouachita and Mangham.
“I think this team is going to have to learn to deal with adversity,” said Hall. “I think our schedule is stronger and will really test us. We may take some punches early in the season. How do we handle that?
“We experienced adversity last year. We were tested at times. And I think they have a lot of confidence in themselves because of what they did last year. We have to stay united and keep the same confidence we had in the second half of last season.”
“Just showing up is not enough. We have to be able to work hard in practice and challenge each other on a daily basis. I think this group gets it. They know what it takes.”
Martinez (7.0 ppg, 4.2 apg), who will sign next week to play at Bryan University following her prep career, and juniors Mary Grace Hawkins (8.2 ppg) and Alivia Lee (9.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg) will join Ryan and James to provide a tough starting five for the Lady Cougars.
The biggest question is depth for the Lady Cougars after graduating seniors Mallory Smith and Zoey Venters.
“We need to see who will step up and be a consistent leader for us,” said Hall. “Zoey was really that leader for us last year. Who will stay positive and lead, especially when it gets hard. And it will. As a coach, that’s what I’m interested in seeing.
“We have some role players from last year that need to be a bigger role than what they were last year. It will be hard for them early on in the year because they just haven’t had the reps. They will have to get better as the season progresses. They will get thrown into the pool and figure out how to swim because our schedule isn’t easy. But I have faith in our group.”
James and Ryan do too.
“We are like a family,” said James. “We fight like sisters, and we fight together on the court. We have our moments, but when it comes down to it, we are all friends. We are teammates. We are friends. We are sisters. We are going to play hard together, and we are going to have fun doing it.”
“We just need to play our game,” said Ryan. “We have proven we can make it (to the title game). We don’t need to let our ego get too high.”
Cedar Creek will host the Brickhouse Bash on Nov. 11 and will open their season Nov. 18 at Northwood.
