In their final test of the 2023 calendar year, the Lady Bears overcame early struggles to pull away in the fourth quarter before topping visiting Jones 65-45 Thursday.
 
"We started out a bit slow," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "Starting in the third quarter, we got things rolling a little bit and we did a really good job of rebounding the ball. Kalea Storm, I thought that she had a really good night distributing the basketball. Kennedee Shelton brought us a lot of energy as far as knifing through the zone, getting a lot of opportunities for us. It was a good night for the Lady Bears." 
 
The Lady Bears (8-3) got off to a bit of a rough start as they couldn't connect on multiple shots on the offensive end of the floor. However, on the other side, the defense helped keep the Bobcats at bay for most of the first quarter, especially in the closing moments when Southwest went on a 9-0 run to re-take the lead at 13-11 at the end of the first quarter.
 
In the early stages of the second quarter, the Lady Bear offense went cold once again as Jones jumped back on top. However, the resiliency in the Lady Bears shined through as they kept at it and jumped back ahead at the 4:45 mark following a 3-pointer from Veronica Williams. From then on, Southwest never gave up the lead. The Lady Bears closed the first half on an 8-4 run to take a 29-23 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
Michaela Payton, who finished with a team-high 17 points, scored the final two baskets of the first half for Southwest and picked right back up where she left off in the second with another two makes, helping Southwest keep the momentum.
 
Later in the quarter, a pair of makes came from Bethany Graves with the latter at the :06 mark. Almost immediately afterward, Southwest regained possession before a mid-range, buzzer-beating shot from Shelton fell giving the Lady Bears a 45-37 lead at the end of the third quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Southwest defense returned to form while the offense put together its best quarter of the night. The duo of Shelton and Morgan Sullivan shined early as they combined for the first seven Southwest points of the period. From there, Southwest got a well-balanced offense for the remainder of the contest as the Lady Bears kept pouring it on before sealing the win.
 
Payton led all Southwest scorers with 17 points while Shelton tallied 16.

The Lady Bears will be back in action on Tuesday January 9 as they travel to Perkinston to face Mississippi Gulf Coast at 5:30 p.m. Payton said that in order for her team to be ready they must put work in during the holiday break.
 
"We have to do some conditioning to stay in shape over the break and then we will be right back at it," she said.