by Travis Connelley | Sports Information Director
Through the first two games of the season, the Lady Bears had to battle hard and hold off comeback attempts to pick up wins. On Monday, it was a different story as they grabbed an early lead and never lost it, defeating Southern-Shreveport 107-41.
“We kind of stretched the lead late with some younger players and they did some little things well,” Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. “We deflected passes and deflected it to teammates off of rebounds, we took charges. It was very encouraging to see.”
All 14 players not only played but scored for the Lady Bears (3-0) led by 22 points from sophomore Nia Hardison. Also in double figures was Veronica Williams (Mississippi Choctaw) who had 18 points and Morgan Sullivan who had 12.
Right out of the gate, the Lady Bears set the tone with an 8-0 run with six of those points coming from a pair of Hardison 3-pointers.
The Lady Jaguars battled back pulling within four with 5:03 to go in the first quarter and three with about a minute and a half to go. But the Lady Bears would not allow them to get any closer.
In the second quarter, eight different players scored for Southwest led by 11 from Williams who showed her skills from behind the 3-point arc with a pair of makes.
The Lady Bears led 48-22 at the half.
As the game progressed, the Lady Bears emptied the bench giving all of the players valuable playing time. Despite the change, Southwest continued to roll shooting 10-of-13 from the field, 3-of-4 from 3-point range and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the third quarter.
Leading 77-30, Southwest added another 30-point effort in the fourth before sealing the win, wrapping a three-game road swing to kick of the regular seaso
