BOSSIER CITY - Monette Bolden's driving layup, which would've tied the game, rimmed in and out and allowed the Kilgore College Lady Rangers to escape with a 77-75 win over the Bossier Parish Community College Lady Cavaliers here Wednesday at the Coach Billy Montgomery Gymnasium.
Playing in her final home game at BPCC, Bolden scored a career-high 38 points, but she couldn't get her final shot to go. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Bolden got the in-bounds pass from Shaniyah Meneweather and drove down the left side of the lane. She laid the ball up on the glass, and for a split second it looked like it would go in the basket. However, the ball spun out of the hoop and off the front iron as the final buzzer sounded. That missed field goal would've tied the game and sent the game to overtime. Instead, the Lady Rangers survived the Lady Cavaliers upset bid, 77-75.
Down 76-69 with 1:20 left in the game, BPCC scored six straight points before Kilgore's Patience Idoko made the first of two free throws. Meneweather got the rebound and immediately called timeout to advance the ball and set up the in-bounds play for Bolden.
In a back and forth affair, the Lady Cavaliers hung with the Lady Rangers throughout. Down 41-36 at halftime, BPCC would fall behind by as much as 12 points at the start of the fourth quarter but battled back to make close in the end.
Kilgore was led by forward Sarah Mgbeike, who registered a double-double by scoring a team-high 19 points and hauling down 10 rebounds. Forward Alex Strawhorn scored 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds, while Idoko added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Besides Bolden, the only other BPCC player in double figures was freshman forward Bre Sha Richardson, who scored 14 points and had six rebounds.
With the win, Kilgore improves to 20-8 overall and 12-5 in Region XIV play. The loss drops BPCC to 13-16 overall and 7-10 in region play. The Lady Cavaliers travel to Trinity Valley on Sat., March 2 to battle the league-leading Cardinals in the final game of the regular season.
The NJCAA Region XIV Tournament, which is hosted by BPCC, will be held March 5-9, 2019 at Centenary College's Gold Dome.
