By Kyle Roberts
Following a season of adversity and resilience, Ruston High’s girls’ basketball team came up short Thursday night on the road at Chalmette by a final score of 38-37 in the first round of the LHSAA Non-Select Division I playoffs.
The Lady Bearcats weren’t the only local parish girls team to see its season come to an end as both Lincoln Prep and Simsboro fell in their first round games. The Lady Panthers lost 58-21 to No. 9 seed Sacred Heart in the Select School Division IV playoffs while Simsboro fell 73-41 to No. 6 seed Florien in the Non-Select School Division V playoffs.
“First and foremost, I thought our girls competed and played their hearts out,” Ruston head coach Meredith Graf said. “It was one of those nights where it’s a new environment for our entire team, for the most part. I thought we handled the environment and the moment well. There are some things that you wish for, such as more made baskets or free throws.
“From a basketball standpoint and the game itself, our objective was the push the ball and move up tempo. (Chalmette) wasn’t very deep; they only played about five or six girls. We had some good things come from that in the first half. It was really a matter of them making more shots then we did.”
Ruston would trail 15-14 at the half in a low scoring first round contest.
“Fortunately, we were right there with them at the half,” Graf said. “We liked our chances after the adjustments at halftime. In the third quarter, they drove the gaps on us more than we liked and they finished with baskets.”
The Lady Bearcats trailed 29-21 heading into the fourth quarter before outscoring the Owls 16-9 in the final stanza. Ruston had the ball for one final possession at the end of the game and missed a couple of contested shots before falling.
“We picked up full court man in the fourth quarter and did some trapping,” Graf said. “In the last two minutes, it turned into trying to get steals and fouls. We put them on the free throw line, and they missed the front ends of some one-and-one’s. We had some opportunities on our end and we capitalized with some big shots.
“One shot does not define the game, but we had the ball in the final possession. We had a couple of opportunities to score off of it, but we just weren’t able to put the ball in the hole. But from a coach’s standpoint, you’re just proud of what the effort was. They listened and they put themselves into a position to possibly win the basketball game. What more could you ask for?”
Ruston played a majority of the season with key players on the bench with injuries in both juniors Zacheya Jackson and A’niya Moore. Despite this, the Lady Bearcats were still in the hunt for a 2-5A district championship.
Ruston ended the season No. 25 in the power rankings.
Junior Jaliyah McWain led Ruston in scoring with 18 points on the night with nine coming in the fourth quarter alone.
Cedar Creek is the lone parish girls team remaining. The No. 7 seed Lady Cougars had a first round bye and will face No. 10 seed Hanson Memorial Monday at 6 p.m. at the Brickhouse.
