Summit – Leading for all but 1:58 of the contest, the Southwest Lady Bears easily defeated the visiting LSU-Eunice Lady Bengals Thursday night, 89-64. The win evened the Lady Bears record to 2-2 on the young campaign.

Southwest took an early 2-0 lead on Talisa Sherman’s jumper before the Lady Bengals tied it seconds later on a Katie Lemieux bucket. Southwest then regained the lead on an Aaliyah Williams basket with 17:13 to play in the half and held the lead the rest of the night.

A three-pointer from Cortney Epting put the Lady Bears on top 20-13 with 10:53 left. With the Lady Bengals coming no closer than four points the remainder of the half, the Lady Bears stretched their lead to 11 points, 40-29, with 0:20 on the clock before settling for a 40-31 halftime lead.

The second half was all Southwest. With an Eyonna Wolfe three-pointer starting things off, the Lady Bears opened the final 20:00 on a 10-2 run to open up a 50-31 lead with 17:25 left in the game.

A Gabriella Cortez free throw pushed the Lady Bears lead to 24 points, 80-56, with 4:35 to play. The lead then went to 25 points on a Tatyana Turner three-pointer with 3:16 on the clock. That proved to be the final margin of victory.

“Tonight was great,” said Southwest head coach Brent Harris, “because we got to use a lot of people in different roles and really started to figure some things out. It was fun to see some people step up and make the most of the opportunity.”

Harris said he expected a tough matchup with the Lady Bengals “because they play a lot of guards. I’m happy we were able to pull away, but I did not expect it.”

Sherman led the way for the Lady Bears with 17 points and seven assists on the night. Madison Mault and Wolfe were also in double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Cortez and Turner both scored nine points while Lillie Snowden picked up eight points, along with eight rebounds, and Erica Newsome had seven. Ke’ Asia Gray and Williams both netted four points while Cortney Epting had three points and Teshia Jones and Danielle Washington both chipped in two. The Lady Bears made good on 16 of 24 free throws.

Lemieux had a double-double for LSU-Eunice (0-7), with 28 points and 14 rebounds, to lead both teams in both categories. The Lady Bengals hit 10 of 19 free throws.

The Lady Bears return to action Monday at 5:30 when they face Baton Rouge Community College on the opening night of the Southwest/Coca-Cola Classic.