Lady Cougars fall to OCS in district title game
Photo by Darrell James
The Cedar Creek Lady Cougars fell to Ouachita Christian 39-28 in the District 2-1A winner-take-all game Saturday at West Monroe High School.
OCS (21-8, 6-1) claimed the District 2-1A title and will enter the playoffs as a top-five seed in the Division IV select field. Creek (16-12, 5-2) will await its playoff seeding on Monday.
It proved to be a scoring struggle for Cedar Creek, with the Lady Cougars making 10 total shots from the field, including no made field gosls for the entire second quarter as OCS pulled ahead 23-12 at halftime, taking control after Creek led 6-2 early in the first.
"We missed shots we needed to hit and we got the looks we needed to get and we just weren't making them. And that was frustrating. And it's frustrating for them," Creek head coach Katie Hall said. "Missing wide-open layups hurts. Defensively, I thought we were pretty good. Offensively, we just could not figure out a way to score. We kept trying to get it inside, kept turning the ball over, missing easy shots, trying to get a foul and not put the ball in the bucket."
Creek's trouble in the second quarter saw shots not falling and layups around the rim were too short or rimmed in and out. OCS took advantage off the misses and grabbed a flurry of offensive rebounds for additional looks to build a 23-12 at halftime.
Creek's only offense in the quarter came off free throws from one free-throw each from Leah Sutherland and Caroline James and two made free-throws from Mallory Smith.
Alivia Lee and Leah Sutherland tried to get Creek back in the game with nice post moves under the basket that saw them finish layups, eventually cutting the deficit to 19-27 with a minute to go in the third. Lee, Sutherland, and Zoey Venters were Creek's only scorers in the fourth as the Eagles pushed its lead to as many as 15 with 5:35 left.
OCS kept its double-digit lead over the final three minutes to close out its win.
Sutherland led Creek with 12 points, while Lee and Caroline James each finished with 5 points.
"I believe going in they were really relaxed. I think they were ready. I think we ran out of gas at the end," Hall said. "This is four games in six days and that's a lot. It is what it is."
