Closing out the 2024 portion of the schedule, the Lady Bears knew that they would have a tough test at home Tuesday against the No. 2 Northwest Florida State Lady Raiders. And despite a valiant effort, which included a double-digit comeback early in the second half, the Lady Bears could not close the deal in the end, falling 55-48.

"We were proud, of listening to the game plan and executing, but we couldn't find enough makes," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "We got beat on some run outs and that was the difference at the half. I don't think that they missed a free throw all night."

The Lady Bears (10-1) became locked in a back-and-forth battle with the Lady Raiders early on. The duo of Kara Beth Addison and Bethany Graves quickly established their presence, leading the charge offensively for Southwest. Despite this, the Lady Raiders closed the first quarter with two baskets taking a 14-12 lead.

It was much of the same in the early stages of the second quarter with Addison and Graves continuing to push Southwest along offensively. On the other side of the floor, Northwest Florida got into rhythm in the latter half of the quarter and built a double-digit advantage putting the Lady Bears down 30-20 at the half.

In the third quarter, Southwest put together its best period of the game. After Northwest Florida opened the scoring with a basket to increase the Lady Bear deficit to 12, the hosts went on a run. Southwest scored 15 of the next 21 points to take the lead before a late Lady Raider basket but the Lady Bears down by one at 38-37 in heading into the final 10:00 of play.

The Lady Bears scored the first basket of the fourth quarter on a Graves make from in the paint but lost the momentum afterward and could not recover as a 9-0 run pushed the Lady Raiders back on top by nine.

Southwest showed great fight and narrowed the gap to four but unfortunately that was the closest that the Lady Bears would get for the remainder of the contest as Northwest Florida held on for the win.

Graves led the Lady Bears with 22 points while Addison posted 10.

After the game Graves said that it is important that her team continues to maintain their strong play adding that they can't let their guard down.

"I feel like there is more to come," she said. "This is just the beginning, we have so much more to go through."

The Lady Bears will be back in action on January 7 at 4:00 p.m. with a road contest at Panola College in Carthage, Texas.