By T. Scott Boatright
Girls Hoops
GRAMBLING — Sometimes the difference between an established basketball program and one that is rebuilding from scratch.
That was glaringly obvious Friday night as Lincoln Preparatory School played host to Cedar Creek in a District 1-1A girls hoops showdown inside the LPS Gym.
And because of the difference between the teams, this game was basically over before it started as Cedar Creek (24-3, 5-0) shut out the Lady Panthers in the opening stanza en route to a 50-11 final.
The Lady Cougars roared out to a 23-0 advantage by the end of the first quarter, and continued taking advantage of a plethora of Lincoln Prep turnovers in the second period to build a 39-4 lead by halftime.
Avery Ryan sparked Cedar Creek’s strong start with eight of her game-high 12 points coming early on in the contest while Alivia Lee and Mallory Smith added four points each in the opening quarter.
“I’m proud of our girls and the effort they give,” said Lady Cougars coach Katie Hall. “No matter what the scoreboard says, they’re going to play hard, share the ball and play to our standards. So I was very pleased with their effort tonight.”
Hall added that she was proud of the unwavering focus her team showed from start to finish.
“I’m going to give credit to them,” Hall said. “They love the game. They just play hard. It’s just them. I can’t take credit for that. They just get after it and never let up.”
But despite trailing by an insurmountable lead early on, the Lady Panthers never quit either.
Ajah Saulsberry, who finished with a team-high four points, connected on a running jumper for the first score of the second half that came 32 seconds into the third quarter.
Lincoln Prep added five points in the final eight minutes of the contest, which saw a running clock start before halftime, as the Lady Panthers’ Londyn Barnes, who finished with three points, nailed a long one from behind the arc from the left wing with 3:22 remaining before Kayla Ferguson laid one against the glass and in with 20 seconds left on the clock.
Lady Panthers coach Demetria Keys knew the challenge her team was facing well before opening tip-off.
“We knew our team isn’t at the point that Cedar Creek is at this point, ” Johnson said. “Our girls are really just starting to learn the game. Almost like they’re in school, and tonight they faced a tough lesson.”
The Lady Cougars had nine players on the scoring stat sheet, with Mary Grace Hawkins totaling 11 points, Arlyn Boyet adding seven from inside the paint, Alivia Lee finished with her early four points while Zoey Venters added another four, Caroline James pitched in with three and Britton Bennett and Kennedy Hall added one bucket each.
“I love it when everybody can play and everybody can contribute,” Hall said. “Our fans love to see that, too.
“It’s hard to get quality minutes for everybody to get (in tighter games with starters playing more minutes) as far as conditioning and not just playing each other in practice. So to get everybody quality minutes is just good.”
Next up for the Lady Cougars is the only other undefeated team in district play as Arcadia, which defeated Haynesville 86-9 Friday night, comes to the Brickhouse on Tuesday evening.
Hall believes her team will be ready.
“These girls are playing with confidence and I like where we are,” Hall said.
____________________________________
Boys Hoops
GRAMBLING — Overall team health is a crucial factor for any sports team, especially late in the season.
And as Cedar Creek traveled a few miles southwest Friday night to play at Lincoln Prep in a District 1-1A boys basketball matchup, the Panthers were healthy and the Cougars weren’t.
The result was a 63-28 home win for Lincoln Prep inside the LPS Gym.
Cedar Creek was playing without three of its starters, including leading scorer Canon Robbins, now out for the season after breaking both elbows suffered last week in a loss to Ringgold. The Cougars were also without Jack Bell (illness) and Jake Terry (undisclosed).
That fact wasn’t lost on Panthers coach Antonio Hudson.
“We changed our game plan when we found out they had three starters out because we knew we had to press hard,” Hudson said. “But I really hate it, because (Cedar Creek coach Lance) Waldron really had those guys playing well over there and they had a chance to make some noise in the postseason. I guess that’s just basketball.
“I feel sorry for those kids. I feel bad for them. Robbins is a senior, and I feel bad for any kid like that because not being able to finish their senior year is tough. And we all know it would have been a much better Cedar Creek team we faced tonight if they would have been out there.”
Lincoln Prep opened with a 8-2 run in the first 2:01 of the contest with the “Brothers Spann” — junior Trey Spann and sophomore Josiah Spann each nailing 3-pointers, Josiah from the wing and Trey from above the key.
“Josiah can score the ball,” Hudson said. “He can score at a high rate. With him, we just have to figure out a way to get him in and use him defensively. But no exaggeration, he’s probably the best all-around scorer that we have — he’s shifty with the basketball, he can shoot the basketball, he’s crafty around the rim.
“He still needs to find ways to get those shots off, but he’s going to be a really good player as he gains more and more experience. But just him gaining added confidence heading into the playoffs is big for our whole team.”
The Panthers marched out to a 19-9 advantage by the end of the first quarter before outsourcing the Cougars 21-8 in the second to push their lead to 51-23 at halftime.
That didn’t deter Waldron from being proud of his team’s effort from opening tip to the final buzzer.
“I thought we did a real good job of sharing the ball and moving the ball around,” Waldron said. “That was one of our goals going in. We’ve been working on it a lot, but it just so happens that we lost three starters. And we weren’t able to do it, especially with all the pressure Lincoln Prep brings.
“But I was really proud of the way we handled that and kept our emotions in check and didn’t get in a hurry.”
Both Spanns recorded double-doubles for the Panthers, with Trey hitting for 16 points while also chalking up eight rebounds and Josiah scoring 12.
Zion Hicks added 10 points for the Panthers while Hicks chipped in with four.
Cedar Creek was led by Cameron Temple with seven points while Brett Bell and Zack Waldron added six each for the Panthers and Lance Waldron totaled five.
“I’m really excited about the future and this team going forward,” Lance Waldon said. “We’ve got to plug some holes, you know we’ve had an injury or two, and some of the other guys stepped up and I think we’re going to see a lot of progress.
“We’ve had to shift gears because we’ve been relying on some heavy scoring by Cannon and we don’t have that anymore. So we have to change what we do and it’s going to take a little bit of time for us to do it. But after tonight, I’m really excited about what’s going on.”
Cedar Creek (12-7, 2-3 in District 1-1A) will next play host to Arcadia on Tuesday while Lincoln Prep (20-7, 4-1) will play at Plain Dealing that same night.
