POPLARVILLE – the Southwest Lady Bears and Pearl River Lady Wildcats battled from start to finish. Unfortunately, for the Lady Bears this contest ended as the last one did, with the Lady Wildcats on top, this time by a score of 60-56.

With the loss, the Lady Bears dropped to 15-5 overall and, at 7-4, into third place in the MACJC South Division. Pearl River climbed to 16-4 and is alone in the South with a 9-2 mark.

In men’s action, the Southwest Bears were looking for a season sweep over host Pearl River Monday night in Poplarville. But, it was not to be as the Wildcats outshot the Bears from the field 60% (29-48) to 37% (22-60) enroute to an 87-71 win.

With the loss, the Bears dropped to 12-8 overall and, at 6-5, into fourth place in the MACJC’s South Division. Pearl River moved to 14-5 and into third place in the South with a 7-4 record.

Southwest will try to regain their winning ways Thursday as they visit Utica to battle the Hinds Bulldogs. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 for the women’s game, followed by the men..

Pearl River 60, Southwest 56 

After the Lady Wildcatss briefly regained the lead, 26-25, with 2:52 on the clock, the Lady Bears took their biggest advantage of the night, 31-26, on a Katrina Littlepage free throw with 0:56 showing. Pearl River’s Kalisha Washington’s three-pointer with 0:02 on the clock sent the Lady Bears into the break with a 31-29 lead.

In the second half, Washington’s three-pointer put Pearl River on top 32-31 with 19:44 to play, but the Lady Bears quickly answered with a bucket from Littlepage to reclaim the lead, 33-32, with 18:30 to play.

With the exception of four ties, Southwest stayed on top most of the half. A Madison Mault three-pointer with 8:52 left in the game gave the Lady Bears their biggest lead of the night, 48-42, with 8:52 to play.

But, the Lady Wildcats would not quit. Behind a pair of Essence Pulliam jumpers, they took a 57-54 lead with 0:22 to play. A pair of late free throws by Littlepage was not enough as the Lady Bears dropped their third straight.

Littlepage scored 19 points and Wilson 11 to lead the Southwest offense. April Levy totaled eight points while Mault had six and Courtney Epting five. Raven Reyes tallied four points, Talisa Sherman two and Tee Myers one. The Lady Bears made 20 of 29 free throws.

Washington hit 20 points for Pearl River to lead all scorers. The Lady Wildcats hit 13 of 18 free throws.

Pearl River 87, Southwest 71 

The first half was a close one. After Pearl River took an early 5-0 lead, the Bears rallied to go up 6-5 on Deione Weeks’ jumper with 17:02 on the clock. A 7-0 run then put the Wildcats on top by six, 12-6, with 13:55 before the half.

After tying the game on five occasions, the Bears pulled ahead by two, 23-21, on a Twymond Howard basket with 6:11 to play. A pair of Howard free throws had them on top 25-23 with 5:16 to go. The Wildcats then outscored the Bears 12-4 to close out the first half and take a 35-29 lead into the break.

The Wildcats extended their lead to 11 points, 41-30, with 19:08 to play in the second half. A Xavion Dillon layup with 15:33 to play pulled the Bears back to within six, 47-41, but they would not come any closer. Outscoring the Bears 11-2 over the next 4:00, Pearl River pushed their lead out to 15 points, 58-43, and they went on to win by 16.

Corey Williams (14), Jaylen Moore (12) and Chris Jones (10) also finished the night in double figures for Southwest. Howard registered eight points while Weeks ended the game with seven. Jamal Hester and Justin McCray both netted two points. The Bears made good on 24 of 29 free throws.

Pearl River’s Jeremy Hollimon scored 22 points to lead all scorers on the night. The Wildcats were 28-34 from the charity stripe.