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WINNIE – The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears’ season came to a close following a 55-46 loss to the Huffman Lady Falcons in the Class 4A Region III quarterfinals Tuesday night at East Chambers High School.

LCM (26-9) looked outmatched to begin the action, but battled back after a rough first quarter.

The Lady Bears and Lady Falcons (25-5) were tied 4-4 after the first four minutes of play. However, a 7-0 run from Huffman got their confidence up. The Lady Falcons rolled to a 20-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

MORE NEWS: Ben Elliot, Alantheon Winn combine for 46 in Little Cypress-Mauriceville playoff showdown.

Huffman scored another basket to open the second period. Facing a 13-point deficit, Little Cypress-Mauriceville started pulling themselves out of the hole they dug.

Asia Robinson scored seven points for the Lady Bears as they went on a 9-2 run. While they brought the score closer, LCM still trailed 28-20 at halftime.

Little Cypress-Mauriceville broke out of a shooting slump following the half. Keylie Washburn scored seven points in the third quarter while Asia Robinson scored six. The third stanza was the Lady Bears’ highest-scoring quarter of the game, but they were still unable to bring the deficit closer than six points. At the end of three, they trailed the Lady Falcons, 43-35.

Facing elimination heading into the final eight minutes, the Lady Bears fought hard but were unable to even the score. Things took a turn for the worse when Asia Robinson picked up her second technical foul, earning a trip to the bench. With one of their top players out, LCM eventually fell, 55-46.

Asia Robinson led the Lady Bears in scoring with 15 points. She was trailed by Washburn, who dropped 12 in the contest.

Brelee Nichols scored a team-high 17 points for Huffman.

“We just went out there and got after it to work as hard as we could,” Little Cypress-Mauriceville head coach Eddie Michalko said. “We ran up against a very good Huffman team – very athletic, very skilled at certain positions and they did a great job.”

The Lady Bears finished the season with an overall record of 26-9 and a three-round deep playoff run.

“It was a good year for us. I can’t be upset about it,” Michalko added.

KEAGAN SMITH – ORANGE LEADER