CLARKSDALE — Playing in the semifinals of the Region 23 Postseason Tournament is nothing new for the Southwest Lady Bears. And they entered Monday's quarterfinal game at Coahoma hoping to make a return trip to the third round of the playoffs with a win.
But after getting off to a promising start, they lost steam and weren't able to fully recover, falling 62-46.
The Lady Bears (18-11) got things going early, racing out to a 9-6 lead following a 3-pointer from Gracie Miller at the 3:47 mark of the opening quarter. Less than a minute of game time later, Mady Smith entered the fray with a long ball of her own, increasing the Southwest lead to five at 12-7.
Mookie Lampley also made her presence known with a three-point play with 1:51 to go to make it a 15-8 Lady Bear lead.
In the second quarter, however, the Lady Tigers began to mount a comeback. Southwest watched its lead dwindle down to as little as one before Coahoma grabbed its first lead since the beginning stages of the contest.
Despite losing the lead, the Lady Bears kept fighting and got a three-point play from Miller to pull within one at 27-26.
The Lady Tigers went on another run, closing the second quarter on a 9-0 run as the Lady Bears trailed 36-26 at the half.
Following the halftime intermission, the Lady Bears appeared to be rejuvenated. Their defensive intensity increased while on the other end of the floor, the offense followed suit. The quarter consisted of a 10-4 run which was led by four points each from Lampley and Bethany Graves. With the resurgence, Southwest pulled within four at 40-36 entering the fourth quarter.
At the 8:05 mark of the fourth, the Lady Bears pulled within two at 42-40 following a basket from Lampley. But Southwest lost the momentum as Coahoma went on a run to begin to pull away.
The Lady Bears continued to fight getting free throws from Lampley and Graves down the stretch, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Tigers claimed the win, thus ending the season for Southwest.
After the game, Southwest head coach Brent Harris reflected not on Monday's loss but the season as a whole and the amount of pride that he had for it.
"(I'm) so very proud of our team this year," he said. "We faced some adversity midway and could have folded. Instead, we had some people step up and we kept believing each other. This is and will always be a special group of sophomores. They led by example ad were a delight to coach."
Lampley led Southwest with 16 points.
