Nederland 51 LC-M 48 Final

[KFDM COOP]

Final

[Gabe]

Good game

[ForeverADog]

Nederland should've won by more but still a pretty good win.

[Bulldog10]

Lady Dogs slip past Lady Bears

By Cody Pastorella

The Port Arthur News

NEDERLAND — There was nothing pretty about Friday night's District 20-4A basketball matchup between the Nederland Lady Bulldogs and Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears.

    There were 18 fouls called in the first half alone and both sides' fans would probably argue another 15 fouls were not called, as both fans were clearly unhappy with the officiating. The whistles stalled through most of the third period but picked up again in the fourth.

    Perhaps the biggest blown call or blown no call in the game came in the final 15 seconds of the contest when it appeared Nederland's Krista Mayer had doubled dribbled.

    But play continued and Mayer went to the bucket for the go ahead score. She even drew a foul along the way and sank the free throw to give Nederland a 51-48 advantage, which is just how the game ended.

    Had the Lady Dogs shot better than their 9-for-22 at the charity stripe, perhaps the game would not have come down to Mayer's play.

    Or if LC-M had not turned the ball over three times to start the fourth, maybe the Lady Bears would have held on to their 37-33 lead going into the final period.

    Instead, the Lady Dogs rallied behind big shots from Rebecca Mosely and Savanah Desmarais. The combo helped Nederland start the fourth quarter with a 9-3 run, which ended with a steal and coast-to-coast layup by Pheobe Falcon.

    Falcon's bucket gave Nederland a 42-40 lead with 5:18. While the Lady Bears did not reclaim the lead, they would not go down without a fight.

  There may have been some sloppy ball handling and fouling, but desire was never in question for either team. The Lady Bears fell behind 46-43 with less than 1:30 to play but Amber Soileau drilled a long jumper to trim Nederland's lead to 46-45 with 1:12 remaining.

    Desmarais answered with a layup but then LC-M scored the next three points, including one jumper that tied the game at 48-48 with 25 seconds remaining.

    The Lady Dogs stormed back down the court, however, and found Mayer isolated on the right wing. Regardless if Mayer doubled dribbled, the junior forward made it to the basket and layed in the go-ahead bucket.

  LC-M had two more chances but turned the ball over with six seconds left but Nederland's Taylor Carlson missed her 1-and-1. The Lady Bears made it back down the court but could not get a shot off before the final horn blew.

    Turnovers killed both teams but hurt LC-M the most down the stretch.

    The Lady Bears had 17 for the game but six in the final period.

    Nederland turned the ball over 19 times and nearly gave the game away in the closing moments of the third period when LC-M went on a 6-2 run behind a 3-pointer and a layup from Tiffani Thompson.

Then Taylor Thompson scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter to give the Lady Bears a 39-33 lead. The Lady Dogs bit back and Desmarais led the way with her game-high 19 points.

    Also for Nederland, Mayer and Mosely both had five points while Carlson had 11. Tiffani Thompson scored 11 for LC-M and Taylor Thompson scored nine. The Bears were led by Soileau who had 14 points and six steals.

    The Lady Bears also won the rebounding battle with a 19-16 advantage.

    But while LC-M won the battles, Nederland won the war and improved to 11-11 overall and 3-2 in 20-4A. Lady Dogs head coach Chris Smith said it was not pretty but liked his team's focus.

    "We never quit battling and we never hung our heads. I liked that," he said. "We shot poorly from the free throw line but we survived and won and that puts us in great shape moving forward in district."

    LC-M, meanwhile, falls to 10-11 overall and 2-3 in league play.