Lady Bengals drop first game of season; fall to Bossier Parish in overtime
The LSU Eunice women's basketball team found itself in another tight contest on Tuesday night, falling 102-95 in overtime to Bossier Parish Community College for their first loss of the season.
The Lady Bengals (6-1) led by one point at halftime and grew the lead to as double digits in the second half, leading by 12 with seven minutes to play before Bossier Parish (3-2) continued to chip away at the lead.
Bossier Parish cut the LSU Eunice lead to six with two minutes to go, driving the deficit smaller until tying the contest with 35 seconds to go. The two teams each added a single free throw in the closing seconds to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, Bossier Parish jumped ahead with a pair of quick baskets and held the Lady Bengals away for the remainder of the extra period.
"Bossier Parish came in very aggressive. They attacked the rim, out-rebounded and out-hustled us," Lady Bengal head coach Yolanda Moore said.
"We had a 10 point lead with four minutes left in the game and we couldn't hold them off. I think that this will give us a different perspective, and the things that we (the coaching staff) have been harping on actually matter. We have to get more focused on our defense, be more disciplined and know we can't let people score at will."
The Lady Bengals finished the night shooting 40 percent (37-for-92) from the floor but just 19 percent (5-26) from three-point range. They finished the night shooting 65 percent (11-17) at the free throw line.
Six Lady Bengals finished with double-digit point totals in the loss, led by Taylor Maricle's 18 points. She added five rebounds, five assists, three steals and a pair of blocks to fill her stat line before fouling out in the extra stanza.
Freshman Ashlyn Wiemann notched 16 points off the bench, all in the second half and overtime, on four three-point baskets, adding four rebounds and two steals to complete her night.
Sophomores Baylie Lee and Reagan Maricle finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively, with Lee adding eight rebounds and Reagan Maricle finishing with seven rebounds, six assists and five steals before fouling out in overtime.
Meghan Cross scored 13 points, adding six rebounds, while fellow sophomore Brooke Richard notched a 12 point, four-rebound, three steal night. Taylor Hurd was the only other Lady Bengal to score, finishing with seven points and adding five rebounds and four assists.
Adrianna Jackson finished with a game-high 28 points for Bossier Parish, who also Victoria Wilson (24 points), Ladenicia Johnson (16 points) and Jeannine Miles (15 points) tally double digits.
The Lady Bengals will have a few days to regroup before welcoming Southwestern Christian College to town for a pair of back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday. Friday night's game tips at 6 p.m., while it will be a 2 p.m. start on Saturday afternoon. Both games can be seen on Bengal All-Access.
