It’s Playoff Time
Ruston led the Lincoln parish representatives in this year’s girls’ basketball playoff pairings as the No. 7 seed in Division I non select field. Photo by Josh McDaniel
Four Lincoln Parish girls basketball programs will have their shot at postseason glory after the Louisiana High School Athletic Association revealed the 2023-24 playoff brackets on Monday.
Ruston, Cedar Creek, Lincoln Prep and Choudrant all made their respective playoff brackets. Simsboro, which finished with 20 wins this season, missed the playoffs.
Ruston
The Lady Bearcats (23-7) enter the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in Division V Non-select and will host familiar rival No. 26 West Monroe in the first round Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Ruston clinched its undefeated District 2-5A championship in a 39-29 win over West Monroe Friday.
“ The playoffs are the start of a new season,” Ruston head coach Meredith Graf said. “Anything can happen, and everyone is to be respected. There are always positives and negatives to any matchup, and our first-round draw with West Monroe isn’t any different.”
Cedar Creek
Cedar Creek (16-12) made the playoffs as the No. 9 seed in Division IV Select and will host No. 24 Slaughter Community Charter (6-13).
The game will take place at the Brickhouse Thursday at 6 p.m., according to Creek head coach Katie Hall.
If Creek wins, the team would face No. 8 seed St. Martin’s Episcopal (16-5) in the second round.
“We’re excited to have a home playoff game,” Creek head coach Katie Hall said. “This is the start of a new season, and I feel like anything goes at this time of year. We don’t have any film of them yet, but we’re going to focus on the things we need to do to get better and turn our attention towards that.”
Lincoln Prep
The Lady Panthers (9-18) joined Creek in the Division IV Select field as the No. 20 seed. Prep will travel to No. 13 Catholic Pointe Coupee (18-10) in the first round.
“They pretty much look like every other team in our district,” Lincoln Prep head coach Fred Hearn said. “They play zone defense and I haven’t seen them change too much from what I’ve watched so far.”
Choudrant
Choudrant’s ( 1420) undefeated District 2-B title lifted the team into the playoff mix as the No. 26 seed in Division V Non-select.
The Lady Aggies will travel to No. 7 Hathaway (17-15) in the first round.
“They play very fast, run and jump defense so we are going to have to handle the ball. They shoot a lot of threes too,” Choudrant head coach Brandy Roberson said. “We are going to have to adapt and work the next three days in getting better taking care of the ball, defending ball screens and stopping the ball in transition. Those are things they do really well.”
