Lady Wolves fall in quarterfinals to Salmen

SLIDELL – The Rayne Lady Wolves ‘ dreams of a trip to the LHSAA Top 28 ended Saturday with a heart-breaking 51-48 loss to No. 2 seed Salmen.
“We fell one game short of our goal of reaching the Top 28,” said RHS coach Chester Randall. “This is our second quarterfinal game in the last three years so we were ready to kick down that Top 28 door and this stings a lot. But we came out and played our hearts out.
“We never gave up and that’s a credit to the kids I have, they’ve been that way all year. “
The loss left the Lady Wolves with a final record of 23-7. Salmen, the two-time defending Class 4A state champions, advance to the Top 28 in Lake Charles for the fourth straight year where they will take on No. 3 Edna Karr Thursday at 2:45 p.m.
It was the tale of two halves for the Lady Wolves in the quarterfinal contest.
In the first half, the Lady Wolves got away from their gameplan and managed to score just 18 points in the first two frames.
Salmen standout forward Kalani Brown had a lot to do with the Lady Wolves’ offensive woes. The 6-foot-6 Baylor signee kept Rayne out of the paint and forced Randall’s squad to take a number of uncharacteristic shots from the perimeter in the first and second quarters.
She was also virtually unstoppable offensively, scoring 19 first-half points to help the Lady Spartans take a 34-18 advantage into the break.
“That was just not the kind of basketball that we play,” said Randall of the first half of play. “And I think the big girl (Brown) had a lot to do with that. We were a little timid to go to the goal, go inside and our shot wasn’t falling. We were taking some uncharacteristic shots and that’s just not us.”
Randall addressed the issue at the half and the Lady Wolves responded by outscoring the Lady Spartans 30-17 in the second half.
“We went into the half and I just told them that we needed to get back to our kind of basketball,” said Randall. “In the second half, that’s the Lady Wolves I know from all season long. That’s the way we play.”
Rayne’s Charlesha Dugas took over in the second half and got the Lady Wolves within 10 (39-29) with just under two minutes remaining in the third quarter when she hit a jumper in the lane and then picked up a steal on Salmen’s inbound play and logged an assist when she hit Tanner Wilson for a layup.
The Lady Spartans pushed the lead back to 14 at the end of the frame when they hit back-to-back shots to close out the quarter.
From there, the Lady Wolves picked up the pressure defensively.
Rayne forced seven turnovers early in the fourth quarter and got hot from beyond the arch and just like that, the Lady Wolves trailed just 47-46 with 1:34 remaining.
“We were really able to get our defense going there in the fourth quarter,” said Randall. “We started jumping in the passing lanes and were able to get a few steals and then our shots started going in.
“We changed our defense a little bit there going back and forth from the full-court press to the half-court press and it kind of threw them (Salmen) off a little bit and it kind of got us going a little bit.”
Tristan Mouton got the Lady Wolves going with a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter, trimming the lead to 43-32. Brown answered with a bucket from the block before Mouton came through with a layup following a steal. That sparked a 12-2 run by Rayne in which Dugas hit three 3-pointers and Mouton had another from way out to cut the lead to 47-46 with 1:34 remaining.
From there, the Lady Wolves had a chance to take the lead following yet another steal, but they missed a shot in the paint with under a minute to go.
Salmen’s Deja Starks, who finished with nine points and five rebounds, dropped in a bucket with 30 seconds remaining to push the lead to 49-46.
Dugas nearly tied the game back when her 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining rimmed out. She was fouled on the play, however, and went to the line for three free throws.
Dugas hit the first but missed the second free throw attempt. Her third shot was spot on but the Lady Wolves were whistled for a lane violation and the score remained 49-47.
The Lady Spartans answered with a free throw of their own but were also whistled for a lane violation on their second attempt and the Lady Wolves still had life, trailing by three with 7.5 seconds left.
Dugas just missed out another 3-pointer from the top of the key but she was fouled again. Again, she made two of three but another lane violation took a point off the board.
Starks canned one of two free throws with one second remaining to seal the victory.
“I said all week that this team (Rayne) is very good. We knew they were going to press us – they have outstanding athletes, but in the end we knew if we calmed down and worked our offense, we’d win the game,” said Salmen coach Kevin Anderson. “Everything was going for us at halftime, and it was a hell of a comeback; they put the pressure on us, and some calls were kind of crazy, but we got through it.”
Dugas led all scorers on the night with 27 points, including five 3-pointers. The junior guard also pulled down four rebounds, had three steals and one assist.
“Charlesha has been this way for three years now for us,” said Randall. “She is the heart of our team and she’s what makes us go. When she is on it just seems like everyone else just falls in line and it just goes.”
Mouton, a senior, had two 3-pointers and finished with eight points, all in the fourth quarter.
Whitley Larry also had a big night for the Lady Wolves despite scoring just six points.She added nine rebounds and three blocks while holding Brown, the reigning Class 4A Player of the Year, to just four points in the second half.
Tanner Wilson, another senior, pumped in five points and led the team in assists with five, and Tarya Kanonu scored two points.
Brown, a McDonald’s All-American and reigning Miss Basketball for Louisiana, poured in a team-high 23 points in becoming Salmen’s All-Time leading scorer with 2,346 career points. She also blocked six shots and pulled down 13 rebounds.
“It’s almost like it’s unfair,” said Randall of Brown’s size and ability. “There is nothing you can do to stop it. We’re not the first and we sure won’t be the last to get a taste of Brown.”