by Michael D. Gunnell

     Southwest Sports Information

The road proved to be unkind to the Lady Bears Saturday afternoon as they dropped a close MACJC South Division contest to the host Meridian Lady Eagles, 75-68.

After Meridian took an early 2-0 lead, the Lady Bears scored six of the next seven points and went on top 6-3 on a Rachel Thompson layup with 4:06 left in the first quarter. Meridian then scored seven of the next nine points to take a 10-8 lead heading into the second quarter.

An old-fashioned three-point play from Mylicia Harness put the Lady Bears (10-3, 1-3) on top 11-10 early in the second quarter. Meridian then went on a 21-8 run to move out to a 25-14 advantage with 3:51 before halftime. Back-to-back layups from Keturah Bingham pulled the Lady Bears back to within 31-23 late in the quarter before Meridian scored to take a 33-23 lead at intermission.

An 11-2 run to open the third quarter extended Meridian's lead to 44-25 with 3:03 on the clock. Free throws from Tootie Carter and Ty Lee then left the Lady Bears trailing with one quarter remaining.

Meridian (11-2, 4-0) took their biggest lead of the game, 55-35, with 6:31 still to play. But, showing they still had some fight left in them, the Lady Bears scored 24 of the next 36 points and cut their deficit to 67-59 with 1:09 to go. However, Meridian would score six in a row to push their lead back to double digits, 73-59, with 0:36 left. They would go on to pick up the seven-point win.

Bingham scored 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds to pace the Lady Bears' offense while Thompson totaled 14 points and also had eight rebounds. The Lady Bears connected on 19 of 26 free throws.

Meridian's Rokila Wallace led all scorers with 27 points. She and her teammates combined to go 19-35 from the free throw line.

The Lady Bears look to get back on the winning track Monday night when they host arch-rival Co-Lin in a 5:30 South Division matchup. Lady Bears fans are being asked to wear navy blue to the game.