WESSON — The Lady Bears entered Thursday's contest at Co-Lin, hoping to not only shake a three-game skid but also start off conference play on the right foot. But struggles from beyond the arch combined with costly turnovers hurt Southwest as it came up short against the Lady Wolves 57-53.
"A lot of things that we did wrong — I don't know if it changes the outcome — are correctable," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "We had the ball taken away from us and we didn't shoot it well."
The Lady Bears (10-4, 0-1 MACCC) went toe-to-toe with the Lady Wolves in the early stages of the contest. Moosie Walls helped lead the charge with six points including a pair from the free throw line. Her makes capped-off six-consecutive makes from the charity stripe for the Lady Bears who took a 12-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The back-and-forth battle ensued in the second quarter and even though Southwest grabbed a five-point advantage at 21-16, the Lady Wolves got into rhythm and clawed their way back putting Southwest down 26-25 at the half.
It was more of the same in the third quarter as the Lady Bears once again took a five-point lead only to have the Lady Wolves answer right back. This time, however, Southwest finished the third quarter strong with a 4-0 run consisting of a Gracie Miller make followed by a pair of free throws from Kara Beth Addison.
In the fourth, the tussle continued with neither team taking more than a two-point advantage through the first half of the period. With just under 5:00 to go in the contest, a pair of misses for Southwest at the free throw line was answered on the other end by a Co-Lin basket, putting the Lady Bears down by four. From there, the Lady Bears couldn't get the consistent offense it needed as the Lady Wolves held on for the win.
Bethany Graves led Southwest with a double-double scoring 17 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Miller posted 12 points while Addison and Walls each had eight. Walls also tallied 11 rebounds.
Southwest returns home Tuesday to host East Mississippi at 5:30 p.m.
