The Lady Bears have proven, especially this season, that there is 'no place like home' and that saying rang true once again Thursday as they used a surge in the second half to secure a 68-52 win over Holmes marking their fourth-consecutive victory while maintaining their perfect 7-0 mark at home this season.
"They are a good basketball team, and she (Bridget Goodnight) is a good coach," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "We changed defenses and that was good for us. I thought that we had an advantage inside and we finally got to it in the second half. I'm proud of all of them."
The post play for the Lady Bears (12-4, 3-0 MACCC) proved vital once again as Michaela Payton's 17 points and Bethany Graves' 12 led the charge. And while Payton shined on the offensive end, her defense was equally impressive as she used her length and athleticism to pick off multiple pass attempts by the Lady Bulldogs.
"Honestly, for me, I had two bad games in a row, so I had to find a way to shake back," Payton said. "I'm proud of the way that we played."
Early on Payton teamed up with fellow post player, and high school teammate at Moss Point, Morgan Sullivan for the Lady Bears first points. Not long afterward Kennedee Shelton joined the fray before Payton added another score which gave Southwest the advantage once again at 8-7.
Both teams battled for the remainder of the first quarter and wrapped the first 10:00 of play, tied at 13.
The back-and-forth tussle continued for the first half of the second quarter, but afterward, the Lady Bears took control and went on a 9-2 run over the next 2:00 to jump ahead 33-24. But the momentum was short-lived as the Lady Bulldogs battled back to narrow the gap to one before eventually pulling even. The score was tied at 36 at the half.
Early in the third quarter, the combination of Sullivan and Payton shined once again with the first five points of the quarter putting Southwest up once again. This time, however, the Lady Bears would not relinquish the lead.
Graves got into rhythm scoring six of Southwest's final seven points of the third quarter giving the hosts a 48-42 lead.
The beginning stages of the fourth quarter saw Kalea Storm nail two big shots, one of which being a 3-pointer, helping to keep Southwest ahead. Down the stretch, the play of Graves and Payton helped the Lady Bears preserve the win.
In addition to Graves and Payton's big night, Kara Beth Addison also shined with double-digit scoring, finishing with 11 points while Storm posted 10.
The Lady Bears will be on the road Saturday at 4 p.m. in Senatobia for a makeup game against Northwest Mississippi. The game was rescheduled from two weeks back due to winter weather on the north side of the state.
