Two overtimes and three missed shots at the buzzer were all the Southwest Lady Bears and Meridian Lady Eagles needed to determine a winner on Wednesday at the MACJC playoffs.
Meridian survived 91-88 after a potential, game-tying 3-pointer from Crystal Thompson rimmed out at the end of the second overtime.
“Thompson’s shot went in and out,” Southwest head coach Mark Swindle said. “It went down, but the rim kicked it out.”
The Lady Bears had led by five earlier in the overtime, but Meridian’s NaDosha Strickland hit a 3-pointer to gain back momentum and on the next possession, the Eagles tied the game up.
Griffin took back the lead at 88-86, but the Lady Bears didn’t score again.
“When we’re up five with three minutes left, we should really take care of that,” Swindle said.
Whitley Wiltz came out hot and led the Lady Bears through the first half with 21 points. Southwest led by as many as 12 in the first, but Meridian narrowed it to four by half.
“She played really good,” Swindle said. “I don’t know how many 3s she hit, but she was working the boards and her putbacks were going in.”
Wiltz added eight more points in the second, before fouling out in regulation and finishing with 29.
“When she fouled out we still had chances,” Swindle said. “We came up short, but some people played mostly the whole game.”
Wiltz was the leading scorer for the Lady Bears, while Erin Brabham scored 15, Griffin put in 14 and Phenicia Taylor hit for 12.
Strickland scored 36 for Meridian, and teammate Tiara Parker scored 29.
The two-overtime game wasn’t a surprise for Swindle.
“We knew it was going to be that way,” he said.
“It almost came down like before.”
Parker had a shot at the end of regulation to win it, but the shot didn’t fall.
Brabham almost hit a shot to win it in the first overtime like she did a week ago against Meridian in the Bears 72-70 win.
The Lady Bears start play Monday in the Region 23 tournament at Mississippi College in Clinton.
Southwest finished the season as the third team in the South Division going 9-5 in conference play.
