MOORHEAD — Following two tough losses last week to kick off the 2023-24 season, the Lady Bears wrapped up their third-consecutive road contest Thursday, with a hard-fought 58-53 victory at Mississippi Delta. Southwest used a 20-5 run in the third quarter to help build a big lead before the Lady Bears held off a furious fourth quarter surge by the Lady Trojans to secure the win.
 
"It is early, and we are still finding ourselves," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "Obviously we panicked late, and we found some way to finish it out."
 
Southwest (1-2) got a team-high 16 points from Kara Beth Addison on a perfect 7-of-7 from the field. After the game, she spoke on the atmosphere and how proud she was that the team overcame the hostile environment."
 
"We were talking in the locker room and said that we haven't had to handle a crowd like that — that was fierce," she said. "I'm glad that we had it early and we can go and watch film on it."
 
Early on, both teams went back-and-forth, trying to set the tone. But unfortunately, it was the Lady Trojans who grabbed the early advantage, taking a 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Lady Bears began to get into more of a groove in the second quarter. A Veronica Williams 3-pointer was followed up by five-consecutive points from Morgan Sullivan on a free throw and two field goals, all coming around the midway point of the period.
 
Southwest and Delta entered the locker room at the half, tied at 24.
 
In the third quarter, the Lady Bear offense and defense both clicked. Defensively, Southwest was a thorn in the side of Delta limiting the Lady Trojans to one made field goal and three free throws. On the other side of the floor, the Southwest offense got a balanced attack — highlighted by nine points from Addison — to take a 44-29 lead.
 
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Southwest offense lost its rhythm while the Lady Trojans got into a groove. The Lady Bears watched their lead dwindle down to as little as three with about 2:00 to go and two with about 1:20 to go.
 
Despite this, Southwest got a free throw from Addison and a 3-pointer from Kennedee Shelton before the latter iced the game with two free throws helping the Lady Bears walk away with the win.
 
Southwest will open its home portion of the regular season Monday at 5:30 p.m. playing host to Southern-Shreveport in the Coca-Cola Classic.