SUMMIT – Coming off a poor performance at Meridian on Tuesday, the Southwest Lady Bears rebounded in a big way and picked up a much-needed 63-49 win over visiting Mississippi Gulf Coast Thursday night.

The win pushed the Lady Bears to 7-6 on the year and 3-1 in the MACJC’s South Division. Gulf Coast dropped to 6-7 and 0-4.

In the mens’ contest, for the second straight game, the Southwest Bears gave it all they had on the court and went down to the wire with an opponent before pulling out a close victory. This time, it was the visiting Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs who fell, 66-65, as the Bears picked up another huge MACJC South Division win.

Southwest return to action Tuesday when they head to Wesson to face arch-rival Co-Lin. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. for the women’s game, followed by the mens’ contest at 8 p.m.

Southwest 63, Gulf Coast 49 

The Lady Bulldogs took only lead of the game on a Kalynn Smith free throw less than 2:00 minutes into the game. But, sparked by Madison Mault’s bucket, the Lady Bears went on a 12-4 run to take a 12-5 lead with 12:24 to play in the opening half.

A Cortney Epting three pointer put the home team up 21-9 with 7:57 before the break. The Lady Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 run to draw back to within five points, 21-16, with 5:56 showing on the clock. That would prove to be as close as the visitors would get the rest of the night.

Talisa Sherman nailed a jumper with 0:28 to go in the half to make the score 31-18 and the Lady Bears took a 31-19 lead into the locker room at the end of the half.

The Lady Bulldogs lowered their deficit under 10 points three times early in the second half, but the Lady Bears quickly regained their momentum each time. Leading by seven, 40-33, with 11:04 left in the game, the Lady Bears went on a 10-0 run to make the score 50-33 with 7:06 to play and led by no less than 14 points the remainder of the game.

“I was very proud of our unselfishness offensively,” said Lady Bears head coach Brent Harris. “Defensively, we battled each possession. Teshia (Jones) really stepped up and played well.”

Jones led four Lady Bears in double figures with 18 points in the game. Epting followed with 13 points (plus seven assists and two blocked shots) with Sherman totaling 12 and Mault picking up 10 (along with eight rebounds).

Gabriella Cortez netted seven points for the Lady Bears, Lillie Snowden scored two and Eyonna Wolfe had one. The Lady Bears hit 80% of their free throws in the game, making 12 of 15.

Gulf Coast’s Markeisha Watson led all scorers with 21 points. The Lady Bulldogs were nine of 15 at the charity stripe.

Southwest 66, Gulf Coast 65 

The men’s game was action-packed from the start. The Bears (6-6, 3-1) held an early 7-1 lead and later went up by nine, 18-9, on Trent Jeffries’ three-pointer with 10:16 left in the half. An 8-2 run then brought the Bulldogs back to within three, 20-17, with 7:14 to play in the half.

Leading by five, 24-19, with 5:53 on the clock, the Bears saw Gulf Coast score 11 of the next 16 points to tie the game at 30-30 with 1:29 before the break. Jaylen Moore then nailed a jumper to put the Bears up 32-30 with 1:00 on the clock. A Jamarri Johnson free throw left the home team with a slim 32-31 advantage at the end of the half.

The Bears scored six of the second half’s first seven points to take a 38-32 lead with 16:12 left in the contest. Up by seven, 48-41, with 10:58 still to play, the Bears saw Gulf Coast (7-6, 2-2) go on a 10-2 run and take their final lead of the night, 51-50, with 7:10 remaining.

The game was tied, 56-56, with 3:46 still to play before the Bears went on an 8-1 run, capped by a Xavion Dillon jumper, and go ahead 64-57.

Gulf Coast had one last hope for a win. With the Bears up 66-62 and only 0:01 to play, the Bulldogs’ Jorden Andrews went to the free throw line for three shots. Making the first two, Andrews deliberately tried to miss the final one, hoping for a rebound and buzzer-beating, game-winning shot. Much to his dismay, and the Bears’ delight, the shot was good leaving the home team with the slim one-point victory.

“We’re really excited about (the win),” said Southwest head man Thomas Gray. “I think this was nothing other than a dog-fight with two really good teams that got inside the lines and went toe to toe, threw punches (and) took punches.”

“Mississippi Gulf Coast has a great team,” Gray continued. “They have two wonderful coaches. (Head) coach Wendell Weathers and (assistant) Patrick Wilcher do a great job and those guys are ready to play. They have a game plan, which is completely oil and water compared to what we want to do. They want to score fast and get out in transition. We want to take our time and get good shots late in the shot clock. We were just fortunate enough tonight, in a game in which I thought both teams played really well, to come out victorious.”

Jeffries and Moore scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, to lead the Bears’ win. Moore added eight assists. Lafayette Rutledge also scored in double figures with 11 points.

Dillon netted seven points for the Bears while Cliff Fernandez added two. The Bears made good on 16 of 22 free throws.

Gulf Coast’s Johnson led all scorers with 25 points in the game. The Bulldogs also hit 16 of 22 free throws.