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It didn’t take long for the Lady Bears to get over their last game. Following Thursday’s tough road loss to Pearl River, their first conference defeat, they quickly bounced back with a hard-fought 55-48 win over Coahoma at home Monday evening.

“They (Coahoma) are a very good team,” SMCC head coach Brent Harris said. “We saw them last year up there. In the first half they were doing some really good things against whatever we were in. And I told them that in the second half we communicated better. We just seemed more engaged. They are a very good team and, in all respect, our team earned our respect.”

The Lady Bears (11-5, 7-1) became engaged in a back-and-forth battle for the first six minutes of play. By the seventh, the hosts began to get into a bit of a rhythm with a 7-0 run. But it was quickly erased with a 6-0 run by the Lady Tigers, giving the visitors a one-point advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams traded blows for the majority of the second period until the very end when Coahoma went on a 5-0 run to increase SMCC’s deficit to six at the half.

A renewed sense from the Lady Bears in the second half began with a 7-1 rally to open play in the third quarter, tying the game at 31.  Sophomore Shylia McGee said that the more efficient play from her team came from better communication on defense.

“Defense, we were like ‘let’s try to talk as much as we can,'” she said. “And we got to talking and it was just turnover after turnover.”

The better play put the hosts right back in the contest which, once again, turned into a back-and-forth battle throughout the rest of the third quarter.

Trailing by one entering the fourth., the Lady Bears rallied once again. In the first 5:41 of the period, SMCC out-scored Coahoma 10-3 to take a six-point lead. And even though the Lady Tigers pulled even one more time in the contest, the Lady Bears never let the visitors gain the upper hand again as they held off the attack before picking up the win.

Lynn Griffin led the scoring surge with 15 points while Analya White had 12 and McGee 10.

The Lady Bears return to action Thursday with a road game at East Central.