The Southwest Bears and Lady Bears captured a sweep over the Hinds Community College Bulldogs Tuesday night in South Division JUCO action.

In the women’s game, the Southwest Lady Bears managed to rebound from last Thursday’s loss to Pearl River with a 57-45 victory over the visiting Hinds Lady Bulldogs. The win moved the Lady Bears to 12-2 overall and, at 4-1, into a three-way tie for first place in the MACJC’s South Division (with Jones County and Pearl River). Hinds fell to 0-14 and 0-5.

In men’s action, the Southwest Bears overcame a sluggish start to finish strong and send their fans home happy with a 91-76 win over Hinds. The win moved the Bears to 8-6 overall and, at 2-3, into a three-way tie for fourth place in the MACJC’s South Division. Hinds fell to 2-12 and 1-4.

Southwest takes to the road for their next game as they travel to Decatur today for a South Division matchup with East Central. Game time is set for 5:30 of the women’s game, followed by men’s action at 7:30 p.m.

Lady Bears 57, Lady Bulldogs 45 

Layups on the front end by Tee Myers and the back by Raven Reyes helped the Lady Bears take an early 13-0 lead with 15:34 on the clock. Hinds then scored 14 of the next 21 points to pull to within six points, 20-14, with 4:56 left in the half.

The Lady Bears regrouped and quickly pushed their lead back into double digits. A three-pointer from Fredrikah Wilson with 0:58 remaining helped the home team to a 30-16 advantage at the break.

The Lady Bears kept their lead in double figures throughout the second half and went up by as many as 20, 48-28, on a pair of Myers free throws with 9:01 left in the game. Only on two occasions was Hinds was able to reduce their deficit to as low as the 12-point final margin.

Katrina Littlepage paced the Lady Bears’ win with 12 points on the night. April Levy added nine points while Myers scored eight. The Lady Bears made good on 19 of 31 free throws.

Felicia Guynes topped the Hinds offense and led all scorers with 16 points. The Lady Bulldogs were two of six from the free throw line.

Bears 91, Bulldogs 76 

The first half saw four ties, but also saw Southwest fall behind by as many as eight points, 18-10, with 13:14 left. The Bears took their first lead, 26-24, on rebound and basket by Xavion Dillon with 5:52 to go. Hinds then knotted the score at 26-26 with 5:35 showing.

The Bears answered with baskets from Dillon and Twymond Howard and a pair of Chris Jones free throws to quickly go up by six, 32-26, with 4:09 left in the half. Hinds scored 13 of the final 21 points and went into the locker room at the break down by only one, 40-39.

With Jaylen Moore capping off a 20-9 run to open the second half, Southwest took a 12-point, 60-48 lead with 13:26 left in the game and remained on top the rest of the night. Hinds lowered their deficit to eight points, 69-61, with 8:39 left in the game. That proved to be as close as the visitors would get the rest of the way. The Bears later went up by as many as 18 points before settling for the 15-point win.

Weeks topped the Southwest offense, and led five Bears in double figures, with 21 points in the game. Moore netted 14 points while Twymond Howard had 13, Christian Robbins had 12 and Dillon had 11. Howard added 11 rebounds to record his eighth double-double of the season. The Bears were nearly perfect from the free throw line, making 14 of 16.

Hinds’ Dela Mayers led all scorers with 30 points in the game. The Bulldogs hit 12 of 16 free throws.