Todd Ryals

Lady Wildcats One Step Closer to Tournament

2/11/2017 7:12:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information

Box Score

The Louisiana College Lady Wildcats basketball team took one more giant step towards a spot in the 2017 American Southwest Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon with an 85-76 victory of the University of the Ozarks Eagles at H.O. West Fieldhouse. The win in their last conference game of the season puts the Wildcats at 7-9 on the season and moves Ozarks to 5-9 with still two games remaining. The Eagles will host the University of Texas at Tyler on Thursday and LeTourneau University on Saturday, should Ozarks lose either of those games, the Wildcats would go to the tournament as the fourth seed in the East Division and take on West Champion Howard Payne in the first round of the tournament.

The Wildcats fell behind 5-0 to start the game, but quickly erased the deficit by going on a 10-0 run thanks in large part to a pair of 3-pointers from Karlee Teddlie and Kourtney McGhee. The Eagles worked their way back into the game and took a 14-13 lead with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter, the Wildcats, however went back on top on the next possesion thank to a pari of free throws from Brooke Jones, and held a 17-15 lead at the end of the first quarter because of a layup with 10 seconds left in the quarter from Karlee Teddlie.

LC controlled the flow of play through the first five minutes of the second quarter, going up by seven points and several different occasions, but Ozarks scored eight straight points at erase the last touchdown advantage and take the lead 33-32 with 3:04 left in the half. The lead changed hands three more times after that in the final minutes of the half and LC looked to be going into half with a 39-36 lead but a foul on a shot at the buzzer sent Ozarks to the free throw line, where they made both shots to pull within one at 39-38 at intermission.

Ozarks were the agressors in the third quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 20-15 in the 10 minute period, using a 14-6 run over the final 7:06 of the quarter to take a 58-54 lead with the final points coming on a layup at the third quarter buzzer. The first shot of the fourth quarter was a 3-pointer for the Eagles, giving them a seven point lead less than 30 seconds into the fourth. Still down by that margin at the 7:30 mark the Wildcats started a run of their own to get back into the game.

Eight straight points put the Wildcats on top 68-67 with less than half the quarter to go. Ozarks went back ahead with a layup on the other end after a Wildcat turnover, but LC continued to roll, scoring the next eight points with the dagger coming from Brooke Comeaux from the left corner as time expired on the shot clock. The Eagles got within three of tying the game with less than a minute to go, but thanks to 6-for-8 free throw shooting in the final 30 seconds the Wildcats would pull out the 85-76 win.

LC shot 21-of-29 from the free throw line in the game and 8-for-19 from 3-point land. Four different players scored in double figures for the Wildcats led by Zharian Maxmillon in perhaps her best game of the season, producing a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Karlee Teddlie finished with 15, and Kourtney McGhee and Brooke Jones both had 12 points in the game, with Jones just missing a double-double of her own with nine rebounds. Taylor Payne also played well pulling in 11 rebounds with eight points.

The Lady Wildcats have one more regular season game remaining, next Saturday on the road at Belhaven, which they hope will be a final tune up for the conference tournament. LC will keep a close eye on the Ozarks/UT Tyler game next Thursday in Clarksville, as an Eagles loss puts the Wildcats in the conference tournament bracket. Stay up to date on Louisiana College women's basketball by following @LC_WBB on Twitter or liking LC Athletics on Facebook.

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