They’re not at 100 percent either in health or potential, but the Southwest Mississippi Community College Lady Bears continue to win.
The Lady Bears played without post player Latonia Anthony, but got strong play down low from Octavia Bearden in their 66-59 victory Thursday night over the Mississippi Delta Community College Lady Trojans.
Bearden scored 13 points, including 7-of-9 from the free-throw line, as the Southwest women improved to 4-1 on the season.
“I told them in the locker room we’re playing at 45 percent … and winning games,” Swindle said. “We’ll keep trying to get better.”
Swindle had even more good news after the game. He said Anthony, who has nursed a high ankle sprain she suffered at practice two weeks ago, would likely return Monday for the Lady Bears’ game at Copiah-Lincoln.
After trailing for much of the game, Mississippi Delta got an offensive rebound and putback to take a 55-53 lead with 4:22 to play.
The lead, however, was short-lived as guard Kierra Addison slipped past a defender along the left wing, drove the left baseline and dropped in the layup as she was fouled. Addison added the free throw to cap the three-point play to put the Lady Bears ahead 56-55 with 4:09 remaining.
Bearden took over from there. Her powerful defensive rebound in which she outmuscled two Lady Trojans for the ball led to Ta’keya Felder’s jumper from the top of the key and a 60-55 advantage. Felder finished with 11 points.
Moments later, Bearden stretched the margin to seven when she drained a driving layup off the left wing with 1:36 to go. She added added a pair of free throws with 17.1 seconds left to close out the win.
“Octavia’s free-throw shooting was pretty awesome,” Swindle said. “She’s the kind of girl who’s going to play hard every night.”
The game was a seesaw battle early until Kacey Elphage’s jumper put the Lady Bears on top 13-12 with 11:35 to go in the first half.
Southwest built its biggest lead of the game on two Bearden free throws to pull ahead 34-25 with 2:32 before intermission. The Lady Bears led 34-30 at halftime.
Mississippi Delta pulled to within 38-37 on an offensive rebound and putback with 14:28 remaining.
But after a timeout, Brittany Patterson snagged an offensive rebound and hit the follow for two of her team-high 14 points to make it 41-37. Consecutive 3-pointers from Ivielle Stewart pushed the margin to 47-41.
“Those back-to-back threes were big,” Swindle said. “That’s her game.”
