Lady Bengals earn first win
LSU Eunice picked up their first win of the season as the Lady Bengals battled to a 64-58 victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs downed the Lady Bengals 80-62 the first time the two teams met back on Nov. 24.
MGCCC (5-4) had a two-point lead at the break and two free throws by Clinda Brown pulled the Lady Bulldogs within two points with two minutes left in the game.
But LSU Eunice (1-13) would find a way to keep their lead as Meghan Knight and Amber Braxton scored in the lane for a 61-55 advantage with 41 seconds left.
Watson hit a free throw with 18 seconds left to finish with 13 points on the night, but the Lady Bengal celebration was made complete when Braxton scored from the charity stripe with 3.3 seconds left and a six-point win.
"The girls really played hard and believed in each other," Lady Bengal head coach Amanda Clemons said after the win. "They wanted it more than the other team and more importantly they wanted it for themselves."
MGCCC jumped out to a 11-5 lead before LSU Eunice fought back with buckets from Taylor Holtzmeier, Maggie Miller and Amber Richard to grab a 15-12 lead with 13:39 left in the first half.
The Lady Bulldogs answered with a 9-0 run, but LSU Eunice responded with a 9-0 run of their own sparked by treys from Richard and Holtzmeier to push the Lady Bengals back ahead 24-20 with 3:45 left in the half.
MGCC finished the half with a 6-2 surge to take a 28-26 advantage into the locker room.
After Richard drained a trey to give the Lady Bengals a slim lead to open the second half, Lady Bulldog Markeisha Watson scored the eight straight points for a 35-29 MGCCC margin.
Braxton drilled a trey, Miller hit a jumper, Erin Maddox added a bucket and Holtzmeier made a technical free throw as LSU Eunice pushed ahead 37-35 midway through the second half.
The two teams battled for the upper-hand before Miller hit two treys and Holtzmeier drained a three-pointer to give the Lady Bengals a 55-52 advantage with 2:35 left.
"They were not acting like a team that was 0-13," Clemons said. "They played like an undefeated team."
Holzmeier led the Lady Bengals with 15 points, while Richard chipped in 14 and Miller added 13 points.
Braxton had 10 points and Madox closed the scoring with two points.
LSU Eunice entertains Faulkner State Community College on Jan. 17 in the final game before beginning Miss-Lou Conference competition at Baton Rouge Community College on Jan. 28.
