SUMMIT – The Southwest Lady Bears led from start to finish Monday night as they ended the 2013 portion of their schedule with a 77-47 win over the visiting Mississippi Gulf Coast Lady Bulldogs. The win gave the Lady Bears an 8-1 record (2-0 in the MACJC South Division) going into the semester break.

The woes continue for the Southwest Bears. After leading 40-35 at the half, the Bears saw the visiting Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs take control in the final 6:45 of the game and leave Summit with a 78-70 win.

The loss, their fourth consecutive, dropped the Bears to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the MACJC’s South Division as they enter the semester break. The Bulldogs moved to 8-2 and 2-0.

After taking time off for the holidays, Southwest returns to action on Jan. 7, when they travel to Moorhead to face Mississippi Delta.

Southwest 77, Gulf Coast 47 

With Katrina Littlepage and Madison Mault nailing two of the team’s seven first-half three pointers, Southwest took an early 6-2 lead and never looked back. A pair of Fredrikah Wilson free throws, with 3:17 left in the first half, had the Lady Bears up 38-17 and they took a 40-26 lead into the locker room at the break.

Spurred by Mault’s seven points, the Lady Bears opened the second half on a 9-2 run to go up 49-28 with 17:13 left in the game. They pushed their lead up to 28 points, 65-37, on April Levy’s bucket with 7:12 to play. The advantage went to 32 points, 70-38, when Raven Reyes laid the ball in the goal with 5:45 to play and the Lady Bears cruised home to the 30-point victory.

“We obviously came out with great energy tonight”, said Southwest head coach Brent Harris, “and we shot the ball extremely well. Hopefully we can keep playing well after the break. It was good to see Damiya (McCullough) and Madison help us offensively.” McCullough scored six points off the bench while Mault came out of a scoring slump to net 12 points.

Harris closed out his post-game comments by wishing a “Merry Christmas to the Southwest family.”

Levy led the Southwest offense with 14 points in the game while Littlepage was also in double figures with 10 points. Courtney Epting netted nine points while Reyes, Aaliyah Williams and Wilson all registered six.

Tee Myers added four points and Elayne Robinson and Talisa Sherman both scored two. The Lady Bears had another near-perfect night at the free throw line, making good on 11 of 14.

Gulf Coast’s Christa Owens led all scorers with 19 points in the game. The Lady Bulldogs (4-6, 1-1) hit four of nine charity shots.

Gulf Coast 78, Southwest 70 

The teams traded baskets early in the game with three ties and three lead changes in the first 16:03. A Chris Jones three pointer tied the game at 10-10 and sent the Bears on an 8-0 run to put them up 18-10 with 13:26 left in the half. A Xavion Dillon free throw pushed the lead to 10 points, 40-30, with 1:54 on the clock. The Bulldogs scored the final five points of the half to send the Bears into the locker room on top 40-35.

The teams again traded baskets in the early going of the second half. However, the visitors soon showed they came to play and to win. With the Bears on top, 59-54, Gulf Coast’s Chris Bilbo nailed a three-pointer with 6:45 to play to start a 16-0. When the smoke cleared, the Bulldogs led 70-59 with 3:33 to play. They then went on to the eight-point victory.

“It’s a tough loss,” said Southwest head coach Casey Carter. “We’re still working on trying to get better and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Twymond Howard led the Bears’ offense with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jones and Jaylen Moore both netted 13 points and Dillon had 11. Dillon also pulled down nine rebounds.

Corey Williams registered nine points for the Bears while Deione Weeks scored eight. Jamal Hester added two points. The Bears hit eight of 16 free throws.

The Bulldogs’ Roger Woods led all scorers with 23 points in the game. He and his teammates hit 11 of 20 free throws.