POPLARVILLE — The momentum built from Montday's thrilling win over Co-Lin to open NJCAA Region 23 Tournament play unfortunately did not carry over to Wednesday as the Lady Bears put up a fight and put together a valiant effort in the end but fell short to host Pearl River 60-41.
 
"We settled a lot and they are great defensively," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "This is a great atmosphere and a tough place to play. At times I think that bothered us. We lost our composure, at times. We competed, our defense was absolutely phenomenal in the first half."
 
During the first quarter, the defenses took center stage as both offenses struggled to find much success. The Lady Bears (17-11) got a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Savannah Hailey to take a 10-9 lead after the first 10:00 of play.
 
In the second quarter, however, Southwest had difficulty trying to match the intensity put on display by Pearl River. The Lady Wildcats began to pull away and took a 23-12 lead at the half.
 
Makes from Nia Hardison and Michaela Payton helped fuel Southwest in the third, but Pearl River put together another strong quarter to maintain its lead.
 
In the fourth, the Lady Bears began to get into rhythm again, trimming the hosts' lead down to as little as 12 but it was too late as the Lady Wildcats got a few late baskets and ran the clock out to preserve the win, thus ending the season for the Lady Bears.
 
Hailey and Mookie Lampley led the way for Southwest scoring 12 points apiece.

After the game, Coach Harris said that he talked with his team following the game and highlighted the highs of the season. 

"I told them that we had a good year. I told them that we beat the No. 1 team in the country and I doubt there are many teams in the world that can say that," he said. "We had some ups and downs. We could have packed it in and not rallied and not got ourselves a home playoff game, and we did not do that."