Lady Bengals open Miss-Lou play with win over BRCC
The LSU Eunice Lady Bengals opened Miss-Lou Conference play with a 72-68 win over Baton Rouge Community College Wednesday night.
The Lady Bengals (5-15, 1-0) travel to Southern of Shreveport for a 2 p.m. tipoff Saturday.
LSUE jumped out to a 12-2 first quarter lead, but BRCC responded with seven points to close the gap to 18-9 with 2:59 left in the period.
Katie Lemieux and Amber Richard scored in the lane to push LSUE ahead, 22-9 but BRCC closed the gap to 22-13 with buckets from Pearl Jones and Cecilia Sterling.
Madelyn Lejeune scored from the baseline with four seconds left to give LSUE a 24-16 advantage.
Lemieux scored 10 points in the quarter to help spark the Lady Bengal offense, while Becca Brooks chipped in eight points including two three-pointers.
The Lady Bears (6-13, 0-1) began the second period with a 7-3 run before LSUE's Richard scored twice in the lane to give the Lady Bengals a 31-25 lead.
The visitors from Baton Rouge then mounted an 8-0 surge to move ahead, 33-31 with 1:55 left in the half.
LeJeune scored from the baseline to tie the game at the 1:44 mark, but the Lady Bears closed the period with five unanswered points including a trey at the buzzer by Doneisha Young to give BRCC a 38-33 lead at intermission.
Abby Jolie began the third period with a three-pointer and LeJeune added an inside shot as LSU Eunice tied the game 38-38 with 7:54 left in the quarter.
Two buckets from both LeJeune and Lemieux helped the Lady Bengals move ahead, 48-44 but BRCC fought back for another tie.
Brooks drained two consecutive three-pointers and Lemieux added two free throws to push LSUE's lead to 56-48, but a trey from Sterling and jumper by Jones kept BRCC in the game.
Macy Hoffpauir hit a shot underneath at the buzzer to lift the Lady Bengals to a 58-53 advantage as the game moved to the final period.
The Lady Bears fought back with back-to-back treys from Young and Sterling to give BRCC a 59-58 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Bengals stormed back with a 12-2 run, sparked by four points from both LeJeune and Lemieux.
Jazmyn Menina and Morgan Eddleman also added buckets during the run as LSUE pushed ahead, 70-61 with 1:48 left in the game.
Baton Rouge's Smith scored five points and Jones scored on a put-back with six seconds left to close the gap to 71-68, but a free throw from Menina sealed the 72-68 win for the Lady Bengals.
Eddleman led the team with eight assists as three Lady Bengals scored in double figures.
Lemieux led LSU Eunice with 25 points, 12 rebounds and six steals.
LeJeune finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Brooks chipped in 15 points and three steals.
Sterling led BRCC with 17 points and Ross contributed 14 points.
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