The Lady Bears closed out the 2017 portion of their schedule in strong fashion Thursday night as they dominated the visiting Louisiana College Lady Wildcats JV squad 99-47. With the win, the Lady Bears moved to 7-1 on the season.
 
Baskets from Keturah Bingham and Peyton Papenburg put the Lady Bears on top early, 6-0. They took their biggest lead of the initial quarter, 18-8, on an
Amari Pittman layup with 3:23 on the clock. LC then outscored the Lady Bears 9-3 to close their deficit to 21-17 after the first 10:00 of play.
 
A pair of Danyelle Lewis three pointers helped the Lady Bears score 10 of the first 12 points of the second quarter and take a 31-19 lead with 7:05 before halftime. A pair of Rachel Thompson free throws with 1:26 on the clock gave the Lady Bears their biggest lead of the half, 449-23, and they went on to lead 51-25 at intermission.
 
A Nia Henderson jumper with 4:43 on the clock gave the Lady Bears their largest lead of the third quarter, 71-27. They then took a 76-36 advantage into the final quarter.
 
The Lady Bears outscored the visitors 23-11 in the fourth quarter and reached the final score on a Lewis layup with 0:47 on the clock.
 
Lewis led the Lady Bears' offense with 20 points; she also picked up seven steals. Thompson totaled 13 points while Papenburg finished with 12 points and Bingham added 10. Kacie Fountain had nine assists. The Lady Bears went 12 for 18 from the free throw line.
 
Lakedra Franklin topped the Lady Wildcats' offense with 16 points. She and her teammates hit one of eight free throws.
 
After taking time off for the Christmas and New Years' holidays, the Lady Bears will return to action on January 6 with a 2:00 contest at Baton Rouge Community College.

Michael Gunnell

Sports Information Director

Southwest MS Community College