Hicks' 20 Points Fuel Bengals Past Bears
By Steven Bari
The Lady Bengals were looking for revenge this past Thursday night when they faced off against Baton Rouge Community College.
And it was revenge indeed after posting a 67-57 victory.
The game was played at a much higher physical level than the first matchup last week in Eunice. Both teams employed their own version of pressure defenses that at times rattled each other’s offenses.
After winning the tip, the Lady Bears struck first from a field goal by Jean Spears. But the Bengals answered quickly on a three-pointer by
Twanisha Tillman.
LSU Eunice and BRCC traded possesions early, but not baskets. BRCC climbed out to an early 11-3 lead. The Lady Bengals answered, or more specifically,
Jennifer Hicks, with 7 straight points to close the gap to one point.
The Bengals went on another run, 12-3, and took their lead out to 12. BRCC answered with four last minute points to close out the first half with a score of 37-29 in favor of the Bengals.
Baton Rouge came out of the locker room on fire. Kiara Etienne hit a big three-pointer to bookend a run that tied the score 41-41 with 14:21 left. BRCC then followed with six straight possesions with field goals to take a six point lead.
After that, the Lady Bengals took center stage. Two “traditional” three-point plays by Hicks and
Erica Noelclosed the gap, followed by a three-pointer by Hicks to give the Bengals the lead with three minutes to play.
Ashley Qualls added a big field goal that capped off the big late run that led to the eventual final score.
“This was the most fun win I’ve had in a long time” said head coach
Michael Bari after the game. “The girls really played hard, and deserved that win in a big way”
Mistakes plauged LSU Eunice in the first game versus BRCC
The Bengals, who turned the ball over 32 times in the previous matchup, were able to limit their mistakes, and only turn the ball over 24 times, much closer to their season average.
Hicks scored 20 points, her second 20+ point game this season.
Amanda Fontenot had 11 points and eight assists, her sixth straight game with eight or more assists.
Kiara Etienne led the way for the Bears with 21 points.
The Lady Bengals will not be playing this weekend. Southwestern Adventist University has called off their weekend series. The two schools will attempt to reschedule, but as of press time no makeup has been announced.
This means the next game for the Lady Bengals will be on February 1st at home versus Southern-Shreveport at 6 pm.
