Southwest splits with Holmes
Published 2:05 pm Tuesday, December 3, 2013
GOODMAN — Picking up where they left off before the Thanksgiving break, the Southwest Lady Bears rolled to their sixth consecutive win Monday night, 54-38, over host Holmes Community College in Goodman. The victory boosted the Lady Bears to a 6-1 record.
“I thought we started with great intensity on defense,” said Southwest’s second-year head coach Brent Harris. “Katrina obviously had a good night and Fredrikah showed signs of being her old self, coming back from an injury.” Wilson, who missed the first three games of the season with an ankle injury, picked up 11 points in the game. “But,” Harris continued, “we will have to play much better to compete in the (MACJC) South Division.”
With Katrina Littlepage scoring six of her game-high 21 points, Southwest took an early 6-0 lead and never looked back. After the Lady Bulldogs (2-6) went on an 8-3 run, capped by Desirae Harris’ layup with 9:31 on the clock, to pull to within 9-8, regained their footing and outscored their hosts 15-6 to end the half. Courtney Epting’s jumper with 1:13 to play gave the Lady Bears a 24-14 lead at the break.
Levy and Tee Myers added seven points in the game for Southwest. Epting scored six with Raven Reyes netted two. The Lady Bears made good on 11 of 20 free throws.
Carmesha Nalls topped the Holmes offense with 12 points. The Lady Bulldogs hit seven of 11 charity shots.
The Southwest Bears got another look Monday night at how tough life on the road can be as they dropped an 84-73 decision to host Holmes Community College in Goodman. The loss, their second straight, dropped the Bears to 4-3 on the season.
Jamal Hester and Twymond Howard combined to give Southwest an early 6-2 lead. The Bulldogs (6-2) then exploded offensively, going on a 20-4 run, to go up 22-10 with 11:54 to play in the first half. Slowly clawing their way back, the Bears pulled back to within two points, 36-34, on Xavion Dillon’s lay-up with 1:33 to play. But, the Bulldogs scored the final four points of the half to take a 40-34 lead at the intermission.
Howard scored two of his game-high 30 points to open the second half and bring the Bears to within four points, 40-36. Holmes then scored 10 of the next 13 points to extend their lead to 50-39 with 16:30 left in the game.
A Hester lay-up and Howard free throw served as book ends to an 11-0 Southwest run to cut the Holmes lead to five points, 55-50, with 13:08 to play. That proved to be the closest the Bears would come the rest of the night.
“Holmes is always one of the toughest places to play,” said Southwest head coach Casey Carter, “and that proved (to be) true tonight. The only thing we can hope for is that this really prepared us for what these South Division game are going to be like with being on the road at Jones County (in the South Division opener Thursday night at 7:30) and hosting Mississippi Gulf Coast (Monday night to end the 2013 portion of the schedule).”
Along with Howard, Jaylen Moore scored in double figures for the Bears Monday night with 22 points. Hester netted eight points while Dillon had five and Deione Weeks had four. Donovan James and Chris Jones both registered two points. Southwest hit 23 of 30 free throws.
Justin McLeary led four Bulldogs in double figures with 21 points. Holmes made nine of 17 free throws.
Southwest begins division play Thursday when they travel to Ellisville to face the Lady Bobcats of Jones County. Tip-off is set for 5:30 for the women, followed by the men’s game.