SUMMIT – The Southwest Lady Bears picked up their 14th win of the season Monday as they defeated the visiting Meridian Lady Eagles 52-43.

At 6-1, the Lady Bears (14-2) stand alone in first place in the MACJC’s South Division. Meridian fell to 13-3 and, at 5-2, into a three-way tie for second place in the South with Jones County and Pearl River.

In men’s action, the Bears suffered a heart-breaking 84-83 loss to visiting Meridian and ended their three-game winning streak. The loss dropped the Bears to 9-6 overall and 3-4 in the MACJC’s South Division. Meridian climbed to 3-11 and 2-4.

Lady Bears 52, Lady Eagles 43 

The Lady Bears seemed on the verge of a blowout win in the first half. A pair of free throws by April Levy put them on top 19-5 with 13:46 left in the first half. Later, a three-pointer by Madison Mault had the Lady Bears on top 28-11 with 3:34 on the clock and they took a 30-16 lead into the locker room at the half.

Meridian stayed tough in the second half and came to within eight points, 48-40, with 2:04 to play in the game. But, the Lady Bears’ bend-but-don’t-break defense, would not let the visitors come any closer. A pair of Katrina Littlepage free throws with 0:10 on the clock sealed the deal.

Levy topped all scorers with 22 points for Southwest. Mault scored eight points while Courtney Epting seven points. Littlepage and Tee Myers both scored six points while Talisa Sherman netted two and Fredrikah Wilson added one. The Lady Bears hit nine of 11 free throws.

Kristen Sampson led the Meridian offense with 16 points. The Lady Eagles made good on 11 of 16 charity shots.

Eagles 84, Bears 83 

Meridian took an early 13-6 lead in the game, but the Bears battled back to go up 21-19 on Jaylen Moore’s three-pointer with 11:21 left in the first half. The Bears held a 35-29 lead with 4:26 to go before the Eagles battled back to take a 43-42 lead on Will Sheriff’s three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to end the first half.

Moore’s layup with 13:40 to go in the game put the Bears on top, and seemingly in control, 61-53. But, the Eagles fought their way back and soon found themselves ahead 69-63 with 9:58 to play.

The teams traded baskets the rest of the way with neither team able to put the game out of reach. The Bears took their last lead, 82-81, on Jamal Hester’s layup with 2:01 on the clock. Meridian escaped with the win when Brandon Daniels nailed a three-pointer late in the game to put the visitors on top 83-82 and a Bears’ shot at the buzzer hit the rim and bounced off.

Deione Weeks led the Bears, and all scorers, with 26 points in the game. Moore and Twymond Howard were also in double figures with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Howard picked up 11 rebounds to record his 10th double-double of the season.

Corey Williams netted nine points for the Bears while Chris Jones picked up eight and Xavion Dillon added six. Hester netted five points and Christian Robbins registered one. The Bears made good on 17 of 25 free throws.

Andre Funches topped the Meridian offense with 21 points. The Eagles hit 10 of 17 free throws.