WEST MONROE, La. — A wild finish spelled out the final few seconds Tuesday night as Ruston (11-4) fended off West Monroe (11-9) 44-43 on the road after the Lady Rebels had a wide-open layup look miss as time expired.
Leading 44-42 with 10 seconds remaining, the Lady Bearcats had a player called for a technical foul after a physical tie-up following a missed basket by West Monroe, sending senior Rebel Ella Ashcraft to the free throw line with :05 to play. Ashcraft would split the free throws to cut the lead to 44-43, but West Monroe got the ball back following the technical.
The defense for Ruston, however got the job done and forced the miss to win the ballgame on the road to against a district opponent, though due to scheduling rules, the game will not count as an official District 2-5A contest.
“We’ve been really pushing and talking about handling adversity, and this was truly one of those games where there were a lot of ups and downs,” Ruston High Head Coach LaShanda Cooper said. “The most important thing for us tonight is we got over that adversity hump. A lot of times things tend to fall on the other team, and we drop our heads, miss layups and get down on ourselves. But we really saw some junior and senior leadership today. Therefore, being able to stay in the game and not get mentally out of it shows a lot of growth inside our team.”
It was a back and forth battle through the first two quarters that saw the Lady Rebels take a 19-18 lead into the halftime lockerrom thanks in large part to junior Kearra Wilson scoring 12 points in the first half alone. A team that’s known for shooting the three well, Ruston struggled from outside the arc in the first half and went 0-8.
The Lady Bearcats put together a couple of quick baskets to start the third quarter from both junior Bailee Harrison and senior A’Keriah Jones gave Ruston a 22-19 lead with 6:36 to go in the period. Shortly after, junior Angelica Green hit Ruston’s first three of the game to put the Lady Bearcats up 27-23 with 4:29 to go in the third.
Sophomore Jayleen Spann knocked down a three to start the fourth quarter of play to give Ruston its largest lead of the night at 32-25 with 7:41 to play. Following another three-ball from Spann a few minutes later, the Lady Rebels put together a 7-0 run to tie the game 37-37 and even took the lead 40-39 with 1:40 left to play.
As West Monroe looked to be moving toward a fast break basket, Wilson, however took a huge charge with 1:23 left to play to give Ruston the ball back. Spann would then knock down another three — her third of the fourth quarter — to get the lead back for good.
Ruston will return to action Friday night at Pineville to start District 2-5A play officially.
“Our district is loaded,” Cooper said. “Each game is going to be able who comes ready to play and which team is locked in both mentally and physically.”
