On to the quarterfinals

Cedar Creek pulled no punches in a 70-34 win over No. 8 St. Martin’s Episcopal (16-6) in the second round on the Division IV select playoffs on Monday, moving the Lady Cougars on to the quarterfinals.

Between Mallory Smith’s game-high 24 points with two threes, along with 10 points from Leah Sutherland and 12 points from Caroline James, Creek (17-11) is back in the quarterfinals for the eighth straight season.

“I was really pleased with our overall defensive effort,” Creek head coach Katie Hall said. “I feel like it wore them down and we were capitalizing on their turnovers. We missed a lot of shots early, inside and out, but I kept telling them those shots would fall. I really proud of our energy and effort.”

After trailing 12-10 after the first quarter, Cedar Creek began to pick up its defensive intensity and turned it into balanced scoring with Smith scoring 7 points in the second quarter, while four other Lady Cougars scored to propel them ahead 27-20 at halftime.

What was a competitive first half quickly turned into a blowout as Creek outscored St. Martin’s 20-7 in the third with Smith scoring 9 of team’s 20 points in the third along with 5 points from Sutherland and a pair of baskets from Ainsley Riley and Zoey Venters to help Creek lead 47-27 by the end of the third.

The fourth quarter never got much closer as Creek closed off by outscoring St. Martin’s 43-14 in the second half.

Cedar Creek will now travel to face No. 1 seed Southern Lab (25-7) on Thursday with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

Southern Lab lost in last season’s Division IV select championship to Northwood-Lena but defeated Cedar Creek in the 2022 Division IV select championship game.