by Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
The Lady Bears closed out their regular season in fine fashion Monday night defeating Co-Lin 69-58 in MACCC South Division action on Sophomore Night.
The teams were neck and neck throughout the first quarter before Co-Lin took a 20-17 lead into the second.
A 10-3 run, featuring layups by Shylia McGee and Sydni Tangle (Mississippi Choctaw), put the Lady Bears (8-4, 8-4) on top 27-23 with 5:00 left in the second quarter.
Co-Lin (5-7, 5-7) went ahead 29-27 with 3:26 on the clock. McGee then scored seven of the half’s final nine points to leave the Lady Bears with a 34-31 advantage at intermission.
With just over 8:00 on the third quarter clock, McGee nailed a three pointer to give the Lady Bears a 41-33 lead, their largest to that point. Co-Lin then outscored the Lady Bears 9-3 over the next several minutes to pull to within 44-42 with 3:28 showing.
The Lady Bears then returned the favor, scoring 8 of the quarter’s final 10 points to take a 52-44 lead into the final quarter.
With 4:22 to go, a Jerryonne Owens bucket put the Lady Bears on top 61-51. They then took their largest lead of the game, 64-51, with 2:33 to go and went on to record the 11-point victory.
“It was a great team victory tonight,” said Lady Bears head coach Brent Harris. “Shylia’s energy was great and Courtney Bradford and Bre Brown gave us good minutes in the post.”
“It was (also) a great night for all of our sophomores. We now have to stay hungry in the post-season.”
McGee led all scorers with 25 points. Tangle followed with 17 points and Owens had 10.
The Lady Bears went 14-21 at the free throw line.
Morgan McCray topped the Co-Lin offense with 12 points. She and her teammates went 8-15 at the free throw line.
The Lady Bears will next see action in the NJCAA Region XXIII tournament. The game date, time and opponent have yet to be determined.
