Two weeks ago, the Lady Bears had little difficulty getting past the LSU-Eunice Lady Bengals, winning 73-52 at home. On Monday, however, it was a much tougher test as Southwest halted a late Eunice surge and hung on in the end picking up a 67-64 road win.
 
A large piece of the Lady Bears' success came from sophomore Bethany Graves who finished with a career-high 27 points including a 7-for-12 effort from the free throw line.
 
"We survived on the road," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "It wasn't always a thing of beauty. We had success inside especially with Bethany. It was a good test in the first game back (since Thanksgiving break).
 
The Lady Bears (7-0) got their offense going early as Graves made her presence known with six of Southwest's first eight points. Despite the strong start on the offensive end, the defense struggled a bit as Eunice went on a run to pull within two at 12-10, just over 6:00 in to the game.
 
Despite this, the Lady Bears finished the quarter strong as Moosie Walls found success in the paint with a couple of baskets helping Southwest take a 23-14 lead.
 
The stellar offensive play continued into the second quarter and once again it was Graves who helped get things going with Southwest's first six points of the period. The lead stretched to as much as 16 at 34-18 at the 5:20 mark but the Lady Bengals moved closer down the stretch. Southwest led 44-32 at the half.
 
It was much of the same in the third quarter as Southwest maintained a double-digit lead for much of the period and took a 52-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
About halfway through the fourth, the Lady Bengals got into rhythm and slowly inched closer. With under a minute to go a four-point play narrowed the Lady Bear lead to just two at 66-64 but a Kara Beth Addison free throw and one final defensive stand helped Southwest seal the win.
 
In addition to Graves' huge night, two other Lady Bears finished with double-digit scoring as Addison posted 13 points while Walls had 12.
 
Southwest returns home Thursday to host Coastal Alabama – South at 5:30 p.m. on Day 1 of the 2024 Southwest Papa Johns Classic.