Washburn Key to Lady Bears Winning

Keylie Washburn got the Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears off to a great start against their cross county rival the Bridge City Lady Cardinals in their first district game following the Christmas break. Washburn scored the initial thirteen points of the game and the Lady Bears prevailed 52-33 at Bridge City on Tuesday, January 3.

The first field goal by Washburn set the tempo in the opening quarter. Keylie added two free throws, put a rebound off her own shot back in the hoop, hit a three pointer, made a steal that resulted in two more points, and then sank another shot to make the score 13-0 causing the Lady Cardinals to regroup with Coach Larry Sterling after a timeout.

The break may have helped as Cambree LaComb and MaKenna Knight of Bridge City connected on three pointers to get the Lady Cardinals on the scoreboard. Bridge City cut the lead to just two points 16-14 on a late three by Kaylee Britten at the end of the first quarter.

The start of the second was not an exact repeat of the first quarter but it started with Washburn scoring the first basket and the Lady Bears padding their lead to 25-16. The Lady Cardinals could only trim one point from the LCM advantage and went to the locker room down 27-19 at the half.

The third quarter was the Keylie Washburn show again as she scored all but two of the Lady Bears points in the period. Washburn’s nine points in the third gave her 26 for the game and put Little Cypress Mauriceville up 38-23 with one quarter left to play.

In the final period Keylie was satisfied with passing the ball and got at least two clear assists at that time. Annabelle Fisher scored six points in the fourth and Mackenzie Clark nailed two threes for the Lady Bears as they pulled away 52-33 for the victory.

Not surprisingly Washburn was the game’s high scorer with 26 points. Fisher and Clark finished with 9 points. Haelee Fitzhugh and Eden Frenzel were the other Lady Bears to score both registering 4 points.

Ten Lady Cardinals got in the scorebook with at least a point. LaComb and Knight were Bridge City’s top point producers with 6 apiece.

Coach Eddie Michalko of the Lady Bears looked down the road at their upcoming opponents. “Everybody we play is so much bigger than we are that we just have to work as hard as we can to keep the basketball much less get the rebounds,” Michalko admitted.

The Little Cypress Mauriceville played at home against the Vidor Lady Pirates on Friday, January 6. LCM captured the win 58-28 over Vidor raising the Lady Bears’ record to 3-1 in district.

Tuesday, January 10, LCM played at Lumberton. The Lady Bears return home on Friday, January 13, to play the Jasper Lady Bulldogs.

The Bridge City Lady Cardinals had their first half bye on Friday before playing on Tuesday, January 10, at Vidor. The Lady Cardinals’ next home game will be Friday, January 13, against the Lumberton Lady Raiders.

The West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs won two of their first three district games and finished second in the Buna Tournament in December. Since the start of the New Year the Lady Mustangs lost 38-19 at the Lumberton Lady Raiders and to the Jasper Lady Bulldogs 52-19 at West Orange-Stark.

Upcoming games for the Lady Mustangs will be Friday, January 13, at Silsbee against the district leading Lady Tigers and on Tuesday, January 17, at home against the Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears.