BOSSIER CITY - In a battle of two teams trying to secure a spot in the Region XIV Tournament, it was the Bossier Parish Community College Lady Cavaliers who battled their way back to defeat the Parish Junior College Lady Dragons 68-65 here Saturday at the Coach Billy Montgomery Gym.
BPCC guard Shaniyah Meneweather converted a three-point play with 5:23 in the third quarter to give the Lady Cavaliers a 46-45 lead, their first since the first quarter. From that point on the two teams would battle back and forth until the final seconds of the game when Meneweather would put Bossier Parish up for good with a driving layup. Her layup came a little over a minute after forward Sha Richardson converted a three-point play to give the Lady Cavaliers a 66-65 lead. All total, there were 14 lead changes and eight ties in the game.
BPCC trailed PJC by as much as 13 points in the first half before closing out the second quarter on a 5-0 run to make the halftime score 40-35 in favor of the Lady Dragons. The Lady Cavaliers would outscore the Lady Dragons 17-13 in the third quarter and 16-12 in the fourth.
The Lady Cavaliers had three players reach double figures, including Richardson, who scored a team-high 20 points. Monette Bolden, who is the second leading scorer in Region XIV, scored 18 points, while Meneweather added 10 points and nine rebounds. Deanna Perry chipped in with eight points and 11 boards for BPCC. PJC's Mackenzie Tillman scored a game-high 34 points and pulled down nine rebounds in the losing efforrt.
The BPCC win puts the Lady Cavs record at 10-14 overall, which equals their total from last year, but more importantly, improves their Region XIV record to 4-8. The BPCC win coupled with losses by Blinn and Coastal bend today, moves the Lady Cavaliers into sixth place in the region with six games remaining. The loss drops Paris to 5-19 and 3-9 in region play.
