by Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
The Lady Bears concluded the first half of MACJC South Division play Monday night with a 61-51 home win over the Lady Warriors of East Central.
The win moved the Lady Bears to 12-4 overall and 5-2 in the South. East Central dropped to 7-9, 2-5.
East Central took an early 5-0 lead in the game, but the Lady Bears quickly found their groove. Outscoring the visitors 15-4 the rest of the first quarter, they held a 15-9 at the end of the quarter on a Sydni Tangle (Mississippi Choctaw) layup.
In the second quarter, East Central came back to knot the game at 17-all with 8:17 on the clock. Seven straight points by the Lady Bears, six from Shylia McGee, then put them back on top, 24-17, with 5:41 left in the half.
The Lady Bears held a 28-18 lead with 3:48 left in the quarter and went on to secure a 33-26 lead at halftime.
The Lady Bears outscored East Central 9-7 in the third quarter. A trey by Tangle with 0:44 on the clock allowed them to take a 42-33 lead into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Bears took their largest lead of the game, 58-46, on another Tangle three pointer, with 3:56 left in the game. East Central would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way as the Lady Bears went on to claim the win.
“We did not have great energy at the start,” said Lady Bears head coach Brent Harris, “but, we did improve as the game went on. Sydni had a big night from the three-point line (and) Shylia got to the foul line a great deal. Our bench did a solid job again”
Tangle led all scorers in the game with 19 points while McGee was in double figures with 10. The Lady Bears hit 15 of 24 free throws.
Ja’ Lancia Kolheim led East Central with 15 points. She and her teammates were 5-10 at the free throw line.
