SUMMITT – The Southwest Lady Bears built a 15-point first-half lead and survived a second-half challenge by the visiting Jones County Lady Bobcats to pick up a 62-53 win Saturday afternoon.

With the win, their fourth straight, the Lady Bears moved to 15-2 overall and remained in sole possession of first place in the MACJC South Division with a 7-1 mark. Jones County fell to 11-6 and, at 5-3, into third place in the South.

In men’s action, the Southwest Bears shocked the 11th-ranked Jones County Bobcats Saturday in Summit, 92-83. The win moved the Bears to 10-7 overall and, at 4-4, into a three-way tie with Pearl River and Co-Lin in the MACJC South Division. The Bobcats dropped to 15-2 overall and into a tie with Mississippi Gulf Coast for first place with a 7-1 South record.

Southwest hits the road for their next contest as they visit Mississippi Gulf Coast Monday in Perkinston. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.

Lady Bears 62, Lady Bobcats 53 

The Lady Bobcats took an early 4-0 lead before Southwest was able to get on track. The Lady Bears went up 5-4 on Courtney Epting’s bucket with 15:24 left in the half and 12-11 on Madison Mault’s three-pointer with 10:52 to go.

A Kadie Parker layup with 7:01 left in the half put the visitors on top 15-14. But, the rest of the half belonged to the Lady Bears. Finishing the half on an 18-2 run, capped by Raven Reyes’ layup with 0:08 on the clock, the home team took a 32-17 lead into the locker room at the break.

An April Levy three-pointer with 19:38 left in the game gave the Lady Bears a seemingly comfortable 35-17 lead. But Jones County fought back, dropping the Southwest lead to 43-34 with 10:25 left in the game. The Lady Bears quickly answered and went back up by 13, 47-34, on Elayne Robinson’s jumper with 9:36 remaining.

Once again, however, Jones County fought back. Scoring 15 of the next 23 points, the Lady Bobcats pulled back to within six points, 55-49, on Kaylan Hughes’ basket with 4:15 to go.

That proved to be as close as they would come the rest of the way, however, as the Lady Bears scored seven of the final 11 points in the game to pick up the nine-point win.

Littlepage led the Lady Bears, and all scorers, with 23 points in the game. She was nearly perfect at the free throw line, hitting 10 of 13. Levy was also in double figures with 12 points.

Bears 92, Bobcats 83 

After falling behind 18-17 with 11:53 to play, the Bears then went on a 15-2 run, capped by a Chris Jones jumper with 6:10 to go, to build a 32-20 advantage.

But, the Bobcats showed why they were ranked among the NJCAA’s top teams. Ending with a Thaddeus Hall jumper with 0:29 on the clock, the visitors ended the half on a 16-6 scoring streak to drop the Bears’ lead to 38-36 at the intermission.

Starting with a Deione Weeks three-pointer and capped by a Twymond Howard bucket, the Bears opened the second half on an 11-4 run to build up a 49-40 lead with 16:31 left to play. Jones County would not quit, however, as they drew to within five points, 57-52, on a Johnny Zuppardo two-pointer with 12:05 to go.

After another three-pointer from Dillon pushed the Bears’ lead to 60-52 with 11:53 showing, Jones County then outscored their hosts 13-6 to pull to within one point, 66-65, with 8:30 left in the game.

Showing they were not rattled, the Bears went on a 13-3 scoring streak of their own to extend their lead to 11 points, 79-68, with 3:45 left. The Bobcats could come no closer than seven points the rest of the way and the Bears went on to the nine-point upset win.

Weeks topped six Bears in double figures with 18 points in the game. Jones added 17 points (and five assists) while Howard scored 15, Jaylen Moore had 13, Corey Williams had 11 and Dillon had 10. Jamal Hester also got on the board with eight points.

Jones County’s Leroy Fludd led all scorers with 23 points.