Lady Bengals' huge rally falls short at home against Meridian
Fireworks filled the HPRE Center on Monday night for the LSU Eunice women’s basketball team’s Miss-Lou Conference contest against visiting Meridian Community College, with the Lady Bengals fighting back from a huge halftime deficit before falling 70-55.
The Lady Bengals (7-18 overall, 3-7 Miss-Lou) fell behind from the start, with Meridian jumping out to a double digit lead in the game’s opening minutes.
LSU Eunice finished the night shooting 31 percent (19-for-61) from the floor and just 19 percent (4-for-21 from three-point range, while Meridian finished shooting 40 percent (17-for-42) from the floor and 33 percent (4-for-12) from three-point range.
With 1:32 remaining in the first half, Lady Bengal head coach Michael Bari was whistled for his first technical foul with his team down 38-19.
A minute and a half later, with five seconds remaining in the half, sophomore Lida Politopoulou was whistled for a technical foul before Bari would ultimately receive his second technical foul and be ejected from the game.
Down 20 points at the break, the Lady Bengals came out inspired in the second half, going on a huge run over the next eight minutes to cut the lead down to single digits, trailing 46-39 with 12:54 to play.
“We came into the locker room at half a little shaken up, beat up; but I’m really proud of the girls as we focused and got back on groove and came out in the second half and fought with a lot of heart,” assistant coach Jennifer Fontenot said.
The lead was just six points with nine minutes to play, and remained at that margin with under five minutes to play before the Lady Bengals ran out of gas late and Meridian sealed the game.
Feleshia Walters led LSU Eunice with 13 points off the bench as all nine Lady Bengals scored in the game.
Politopoulou followed with 12 points, while Meghan Cross finished with nine points. Jordan Sweatt tallied six points off the bench as Victoria Fontenot and Taylor Hurd each finished with four points.
Chesley Dubroc added three points and Brooke Richard and Kate Faulk each had two points to round out the scoring.
Ashtin McNichols led all scorers with 23 points for Meridian, while Gelese Lampton finished with 21 points.
The Lady Bengals make the short trip to take on Baton Rouge Community College on Wednesday night before wrapping up the season at home on Saturday night against Southern-Shreveport.
Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m. tipoffs and can be seen on Bengal All-Access and heard on KVPI 92.5 FM.
