Lady Bears win Bi-District Basketball Game

The Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears opened the state basketball playoffs with a solid win. The Lady Bears defeated the Hamshire-Fannett Lady Longhorns 58-36 on Tuesday, February 14, in Winnie.

Hamshire-Fannett got two early baskets sandwiched around a three pointer by the Lady Bears' Keylie Washburn to own a 4-3 lead. Eden Frenzel of LCM scored to give the Lady Bears a one-point advantage 5-4, and they would not surrender the lead the remainder of the game.

Washburn added seven more points in the first quarter hitting another three and sinking two field goals. Little Cypress Mauriceville enjoyed a nine point advantage 16-7 after one period.

Chrissy Joseph came off the bench in the second quarter for the Lady Bears and contributed four points while Washburn had five points including her third three of the first half. The Lady Longhorns had their best eight minutes of the game in the second quarter outscoring LCM by a point to make the score 25-17 at halftime.

The Lady Longhorns stayed within seven points of the Lady Bears until Annabelle Fisher popped the twine with a three point shot just over two minutes into the third quarter giving LCM a ten point lead. Later Fisher drove the baseline for a short jumper to increase the lead to fourteen points as the period was winding down.

The final quarter like the first was dominated by the Lady Bears. Joseph scored six points and Haelee Fitzhugh who took a nasty fall saving a ball from going out of bounds tossed in two shots as Little Cypress Mauriceville won by its largest margin of the evening twenty-two points.

The high scorer in the game was Washburn with 25 points, Keylie grabbed numerous rebounds, and she handed out at least three assists. Joseph was also strong on the boards and scored in double figures with 12 points. Fisher and Fitzhugh had 7 and 6 points respectfully for the Lady Bears.

LCM Coach Eddie Michalko was pleased with the effort from his girls and the end result. "We kept fouling them early and that kept them in the game because they made their free throws. Once we stopped putting them at the line the game improved for us. We always play hard, we've just got to get smarter. If we play hard and smart we can do something," Michalko concluded.

The Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears (28-8) faced the District 18-4A champion Madisonville Lady Mustangs (32-4) in their area round playoff game. The Lady Bears and Madisonville played Friday, February 17, in Lufkin a game won 56-34 by the Lady Mustangs. Little Cypress Mauriceville was the last Orange County girls basketball team left in the playoffs.