At times during Thursday night's conference home game against Mississippi Delta, the Lady Bears had trouble slowing down the Lady Trojans offensive attack.
Then came the fourth quarter when both the Southwest offense and defense starting clicking simultaneously, leading to a 54-39 win.
"Their defense is really good, they are physical and they rebound well," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said of Delta. "We found some answers offensively and we found something that we can go to. And it wasn't just one person, it was multiple people, and we can get them in the action. We grew up a little bit tonight."
The Lady Bears (15-4, 6-0 MACCC) and the Lady Trojans engaged in a back-and-forth battle early on that ended with a 10-10 tie at the end of the first quarter. In the second, however, Southwest began to find a bit more consistency on the offensive end. Southwest out-scored Delta 11-5 in the quarter with four different players registering points, led by four from Michaela Payton. The hosts took a 21-15 lead into the locker room at the half.
Early in the third quarter, Delta began to come back. Following an 8-2 run, Southwest found itself tied with Delta at 23-23. For the remainder of the quarter, both teams went back-and-forth once again with the Lady Bears taking a slight 30-29 lead at the end of the period.
The fourth quarter was a different story as it was the Lady Bears' best of the night by far. With 7:45 to go in the game, Southwest rallied with a 19-4 run that lasted 6:37. When the dust settled, the Lady Bears enjoyed a 52-35 lead.
From there, Southwest got a pair of free throws from Kara Beth Addison to help seal the deal against Delta.
Payton led the Lady Bears with 14 points. She said after the game that it was important for her team to keep the right frame of mind in the contest.
"We have to keep believing in ourselves and in our teammates, we have to have confidence because if one person starts feeling down, then the energy is going to reciprocate on others and it is going to lead to something bad," Payton said.
Kennedee Shelton also finished in double figures in scoring with 11 points.
Southwest will hit the road for its next contest as the Lady Bears will make the lengthy drive north to Booneville to face Northeast Mississippi Monday at 5:30 p.m.
