By T. Scott Boatright
They’re baaack!
Defensive domination was the name of the game Thursday evening as Cedar Creek’s Lady Cougars punched their tickets for a second straight trip to Marsh Madness with a 53-18 win over 21st-seeded St. Mary’s in quarterfinals action of the LHSAA Division IV Select girls basketball playoffs inside The Brickhouse.
With the win, Creek will now travel to Hammond Wednesday to face No. 1 seed Southern Lab at 2:45 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s Select School Division IV title game. Southern Lab defeated No. 8 seed Sacred Heart 71-21 Thursday night.
No. 2 seed JS Clark will face No. 3 seed Ouachita Christian in the other semifinal Wednesday at 1 p.m.
St. Mary’s Ava Hebert opened the game’s scoring with a short jumper 1:17 into the opening stanza.
But the Lady Tigers didn’t score again until 2:26 in the second quarter on a Corbin Gandy 3-pointer to shrink Cedar Creek’s lead to eight at 12-5.
Cedar Creek’s offense finally ignited at that point as the Lady Cougars outscored St. Mary’s 20-2 the rest of the quarter to build a 32-7 advantage at halftime.
“I felt like our defense would give them trouble,” said Lady Cougars coach Katie Hall. “”We’ve been taking steps forward in the last month and a half to get to this point. We still have some habits they’ve got to get better at, but we’re finally getting back to where we were in the Northwood game, the very first game of the season. It’s just confidence.”
The second half was all Cedar Creek, with a running clock starting late in a third quarter that saw the Lady Cougars outscore St. Mary’s 17-4.
And that running clock made fast work of the final stanza as Hall slowly took her starters out of the game to standing ovations.
Cedar Creek senior post player Avery Ryan dominated on both ends of the floor, using her 6-2 size advantage to lead the Lady Cougars with 15 points while also controlling the boards.
“Avery was awesome,” Hall said. “I’m so proud of her because she draws a lot of attention and she works. She runs and is getting banged all the time and that’s hard to do. Tonight, I felt like it didn’t bother her. She was wanting the ball and sharing the ball. She trusted her teammates tonight.
“And that was really big for her because a lot of times she’ll get frustrated because it’s hard for her to get touches, but she was rebounding the heck out of it. She and Alivia (Lee) were great on the boards.”
Lee also played a big role for Cedar Creek, using her 5-10 height advantage to help give the Lady Cougars dominant play in the post and finishing with 14 points.
“She’s playing with confidence right now,” Hall said of Lee. “She was everywhere. She was rebounding, she was making steals. It was good to see her have success because she has had some physical deals. But I think being in shape helped her.”
Ryan dominated defensively from the opening tip but started slow offensively, not getting on track until the final three minutes of the second quarter when she scored on a short jumper, a putback off the glass and a shot she banked off the backboard from under the goal off an assist from Caroline James, who totaled 11 points on the night.
“It was pretty tough but I knew that we would come out with a win and banging down low is just a part of the game and tonight (the referees) were just letting us play,” Ryan said. “My teammates talked to me and pumped me up at halftime, so I was good to go heading into the second half.”
Hall said holding St. Mary’s top offensive weapon — Ava Hebert, a senior who has scored more than 2,000 career points — to 14 points was one of the keys to the Lady Cougars big win.
“I thought Caroline’s defense on No. 1 was exceptional,” Hall said. “She’s a very good player and Caroline just really did a great job on her.”
Hall believes her team will be ready for its next challenge thanks to having a chip on their shoulder.
“Sometimes they feel disrespected because people don’t give them enough credit,” Hall said. “I mean, some guy picked St. Mary’s to win today. So they’ve got a little chip on their shoulders. And now we’re going back to the semifinals — again — because we’re a good team. I’m proud of these girls.”
Ryan says she and her teammates will be ready.
“I feel very confident in us,” Ryan said. “We still have work to do, but we’re going to be ready. This was a game we needed.”
