Shooting woes plague teams in CCHS' 29-18 loss to Southern Lab

No. 25 Central Catholic wanted to slow down Thursday’s Class 1A bi-district matchup with No. 8 Southern Lab and turn it into a half-court game.
They got that and even got more help as Southern Lab struggled to make shots.
However, Central Catholic (14-13) struggled, too, and the Lady Kittens (24-5) pulled away within the last two minutes of the game for a 29-18 victory.
“That’s the ballgame we wanted,” Central Catholic coach Latashia Wise said. “That’s the game plan we wanted. Now, it’s about execution. You got to execute. We got a lot of wide open layups (that Central Catholic missed). We got some contested ones, but we missed some free throws. … They didn’t do anything special. Now, they’re a good ball team. They got good players. Individually, they got great players, but as a team, we had everything we needed to beat a No. 8 seed even though our situation of being very, very young.”
However, Wise said her team didn’t capitalize and get the scoring production they needed.
Southern Lab, which also featured a young team, led just 21-16 with 1:19 remaining in the game after Central Catholic’s Lydia Rivas, who was double-teamed all night, scored her first basket of the game.
However, the Lady Kittens made 8 of 11 free throws in the final 1:09, as Central Catholic was forced to foul, and pulled away for the win.
“It was ugly, but the thing about it is we overcome the adversities of the little problems that we (were) having just trying to figure out what we’re doing, how we’re going to do it and at the right time,” Southern Lab Coach Henry Combs said.
Asked if the gym, where Southern Lab doesn’t typically play, had an effect on his team’s shooting, Combs said yes, but he said it wasn’t an excuse because Central Catholic doesn’t play in that gym, either.
The game originally was scheduled to be played at Seymour Gym but was moved to the F.G. Clark Activity Center where Southern University’s basketball teams play.
Wise said she thought the change of venue helped her squad.
“It’s a bigger arena,” she said. “It’s a bigger floor. They couldn’t successfully trap us, which I was worried about, but you changed the venue, and with that being said, it changes your ball game.”
While Southern Lab and Central Catholic each scored buckets on their first possession of the game — Southern Lab on a bucket by LSU commitment Cailain Williams and Central Catholic on a Yani Johnson put back for a 2-all game early — neither team scored again until Williams sank two free throws with 2:39 remaining in the opening quarter for a 4-2 advantage.
Central Catholic didn’t score another bucket until 1:56 remained in the opening quarter when Johnson connected on the second of two free throws for a 6-3 Southern Lab advantage.
While Rivas, Central Catholic’s offensive spark plug, was double-teamed in the game and held scoreless for much of the contest, she also ran into foul trouble as she picked up four fouls in the first half, including two in less than a minute’s time in the second quarter.
“I thought we did a real good job of taking (Rivas) away,” Combs said.
In the second quarter, Central Catholic got its first field goal — a bucket by Hallie Autin with about 6:50 remaining — since its first possession of the game to cut Southern Lab’s lead to 7-5.
Central Catholic went into halftime down 11-8.
In the third quarter, Lab started out like the beginning of the game with a bucket on its first possession — a Salis Payne runner — that gave the Lady Kittens a 13-8 lead.
However, neither team scored again until Central Catholic got its lone points of the quarter on two free throws by Johnson with 3:23 remaining to cut its deficit to 13-10.
Southern Lab added just one more field goal in the third quarter on a Williams’ bucket with 1:56 remaining for a 15-10 lead advantage they would take into the fourth quarter.
While Central Catholic cut its deficit to as close as 17-13 on Jalaysia Bertrand’s three-pointer with about 5:28 remaining and later to 21-16 on Rivas’ bucket with 1:19, Southern Lab used free throws to pull out the win.
Bertrand led Central Catholic with six points, while Johnson had five points. Other scorers included Rivas, four; and Autin, three.
Central Catholic will lose just one senior from this year’s squad, Rivas.
“She did a great job for us this year. … She handled the ball for us,” Wise said. “She played the inside game. She played the outside game. She had to do a lot for us this year in which she managed to do, and we’re very grateful that we had the opportunity for her to come into our program and help us out a little bit.”
Southern Lab will continue postseason play when it hosts Central Catholic’s District 7-1A foe, Gueydan, in second-round action. Gueydan defeated No. 24 Grambling 53-45 in other first-round action.