By Ronnie Hughes

Leader Correspondent

BRIDGE CITY — Kassidy Wilbur put on a clinic torching the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears for 14 points en route to a 38-31 District 24-4A win.

Grace Chen led the Lady Bears with 10 points in the loss.

Bridge City jumped out early with an 8-3 lead and never looked back while LC-M struggled to find consistency. The Lady Cardinals (1-2 in district) seen their early lead dissipate to just one point with Chen sparking the Lady Bear offense with a huge three-point shot. Maysen Tyler answered back with a three-point shot of her own to extend the Bridge City lead, 15-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Bears (2-2 in district) offense would again struggle to open the second quarter as they were held scoreless through the first four minutes. Lady Cardinals offense hit a snag as well, but after a two minute scoring drought, Wilbur, would grab a rebound and put it back for the easy lay-in. Bridge City got additional help from Bailee Bacon who’d find her first points off a long range three-point shot to end her 0-5 shooting slump. Chen scored all six of the Lady Bear points in the second quarter as they trailed, 23-15 at the half. Despite a lead the Lady Cardinals failed to take advantage of Lady Bear turnovers, miscues and poor shot selection while leaving several points on the floor.

The Lady Cardinals opened the second half with three quick turnovers, but the Lady Bears fail to convert them into points. Both teams failed to make a basket four minutes into the game and combined for 10 turnovers in that span of play. Wilbur finally found space and was able to make her way to the basket for the first points of the half and a Lady Cardinals lead, 25-15. Moments later she’d steal the ball and find her 12^th point of the game on the fast-break bucket. Brown saved a scoreless third quarter for the Lady Bears when she stole the inbound pass for an easy lay-up shot. Sheridan Rogers followed suit with a rebound and put back as time expired in the third quarter. Lady Cardinals led, 29-20 heading into the final quarter.

LC-M opened the fourth quarter with high energy and intensity to open on a 5-0 run sparked by Maddi Frey who found her first score of the night. However, the spark was short lived as Bacon gave Bridge City a seven point lead after hitting her second three-pointer of the night. LC-M would notch another quick two buckets to pull the game within three points, 32-29 with just under four minutes to play. Bacon hit a couple of free throws followed by a Carlie Fultz field-goal from the corner to put Bridge City in control, 38-31. Wilbur ended the night on a high note while stealing the ball from Frey and running out the clock. Bacon ended the game with 10 points while Fultz chipped in 5 in the win.

The Lady Cardinals will take their momentum on the road Friday to face a red hot Silsbee Lady Tigers team whose coming off a win themselves against Hamshire-Fannett. The Lady Bears will have a bye coming up, but will host Silsbee Tuesday January 12^th.