East Central handed Baton Rouge their third straight defeat on Saturday afternoon. The 70-65 loss drops BRCC's record to 4-8 with two more games left before the team takes a two-week break for the holidays.
Baton Rouge dug themselves a hole in the first half from to many turnovers and missed opportunities. With five minutes remaining in the first, Baton Rouge was trailing 34-9, the twenty-five point margin was the largest deficit of the day. The Lady Bears finished the first half on a 16-4 run to leave themselves a manageable deficit. BRCC was trailing 38-25, but had shifted the momentum after the strong finish.
Baton Rouge battled in the second half. With under fourteen minutes to go, BRCC had cut the lead to five, but East Central managed to seize control by extending the lead back to fifteen at the nine minute mark.
Coach Lee and the Lady Bears had one late push in them. Lanae Bickham banked in a three pointer with 19 seconds remaining to cut the lead to two, but the comeback was not meant to be. East Central made their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
Lanae Bickham led the team in scoring with thirteen points. Anitara Whitfield added twelve, while Terriel Ross was the only other player in double-figures with ten points of her own.
The Lady Bears finish the fall semester in Panama City, Florida. They will be participating in the Gulf Coast State College Tournament on December 17th and 18th versus Darton State College and Florida State College at Jacksonville.