It is the start to the season that Lady Bear head coach Brent Harris and his team was hoping for Saturday as Southwest displayed a balanced attack on offense coupled with a tough defense, topping Coastal Alabama-North 70-56.
"It was a good first game," Harris said. "There were some stretches where, as a coach, you would like to pull away more and we got happy. But I told them in the huddle that behind that smile, there has to be someone who has to step on the gas."
The Lady Bears (1-0) grabbed an early lead and never relinquished it. In the first quarter, a balanced attack offensively led by five points from freshman Gracie Miller couple with a pair of baskets from Bethany Graves helped lead the charge. Southwest led 16-5 after the first 10:00 of play.
In the second quarter, the Lady Coyotes inched closer pulling as close as five points on two occasions early in the period and to within three a short time later. But Southwest got two big 3-pointers from freshman Mady Smith to help build a bigger lead as the Lady Bears found themselves up 31-24 at the half.
Changes in defensive strategy at the half paid off for Southwest early in the third quarter. The Lady Bears displayed a more aggressive approach which led to mistakes and missed shots by the Lady Coyotes.
"We definitely were a little more dialed in," Harris said. "We had some youth step up and having KB (Kara Beth Addison) at the top with her length definitely helped some things."
On the other side of the floor, the offense picked up where it left off in the first half. Shanell Celestine, playing in her first game in over a year due to injury, began to get into rhythm scoring six of her eight points in the game all around the mid-point of the third quarter. Almost immediately afterward another Lady Bear making her return from a year-long injury made her presence known. Mookie Lampley shined on defense with two key steals, both of which led to long passes to Addison for fast-break buckets, the second of which came at the 2:52 mark of the third quarter and gave Southwest a 50-34 advantage.
Leading 57-38 heading into the fourth quarter, Southwest got a 3-pointer from Miller as she continued to look very comfortable playing in her first collegiate regular season game. She admitted, though, that there were some jitters before the game but she quickly got over them.
"When you first enter the game and the environment, you are a little bit nervous, but I told myself to be calm, be patient and take what they give you," she said.
Later in the quarter, Miller showed that in addition to shooting 3-pointers efficiently, she can also drive to the basket, doing so on two different occasions with made layups keeping the Lady Bear offense in rhythm.
Miller led the Lady Bears with 18 points while Addison had 11.
Southwest returns to action on Thursday as they will face the same Lady Coyote team, this time at their home in Monroeville, AL. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
