Throughout the first half of Thursday's Region 23 Postseason opening round contest against Northwest, the Lady Bears battled but couldn't quite get over the hump.
Then came the third quarter.
Southwest went on a big run in the period to grab the lead, one it wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the contest as the Lady Bears defeated the Lady Rangers 68-54 to move on to the quarterfinal round.
"Kudos to Coach (LaTaryl) Williams and his team, they came ready to play. And kudos to us, we kind of kept our composure and didn't panic," Southwest head coach Brent Harris said. "It is human nature, the butterflies are there. We kind of gathered ourselves and made a few plays."
In the first few minutes of play, Southwest (18-10) produced on the offensive end but Northwest stayed one step ahead, not allowing the Lady Bears to grab the lead. Regardless, Southwest kept pace and got key makes from Kara Beth Addison towards the end of the period.
Down 18-16 entering the second quarter, Southwest lost momentum as the deficit grew to six. But the Lady Bears battled back and pulled within two at 27-25 at the 4:13 mark. Down the stretch in the period, the deficit once again grew, this time to as much as nine, but a key Gracie Miller 3-pointer with 1:16 to go cut the deficit to six at 34-28 at the half.
Trailing 38-32 a little less than halfway through the third quarter, the Lady Bears were looking for a spark and they got one from one of the team leaders in Bethany Graves.
The sophomore got an offensive rebound on a third chance for Southwest before making the shot while getting fouled, providing not only a big make for the Lady Bears but also momentum, as it fired up her teammates and the many Southwest fans in attendance.
Graves' converted on her free throw for the three-point play which kick-started a rally for the Lady Bears. Baskets from Lampley and Moosie Walls, followed by back-to-back makes from Addison and yet another three-point play from Graves made up the rally. When the dust settled, Southwest enjoyed a 49-40 advantage following a 14-2 run.
"It feels good knowing that my teammates rallied after that," said Graves mentioning how her first three-point play started the run. "It feels really good."
With the upper hand and the momentum, the Lady Bears kept their foot on the gas finishing the third quarter strong, taking a 51-44 lead.
For most of the fourth quarter, Southwest stayed one step ahead of Northwest. The Lady Bear advantage never dropped below five points as baskets from Miller, Addison, Walls and Graves paced the hosts. Southwest finished the game strong, scoring the final nine points of the contest to seal the win.
Addison led the Lady Bears with 23 points. Graves and Walls each had 12 points while Lampley finished with 11.
With the win, Southwest moves on to the quarterfinal round on Monday where the Lady Bears will travel to Clarksdale to face Coahoma.
