Coastal Bend women's basketball looked to bounce back on the road with a rematch against LSU-Eunice. The Cougars lost at home earlier this season to the Bengals. Coastal Bend played well in the first half keeping the game within reach. CBC was down ten after the first period of play, 14-24 and kept pace in the second frame, 17-18 but still trailing 31-44 at halftime.
In the third quarter CBC had trouble taking care of and scoring the basketball and only scoring three points in the third. Coastal Bend played hard but lost the last quarter by four points, 21-25. The Cougars were swept away in the season series, losing game two, 55-96.
Leading the Cougars in scoring was Savanna Smith with 17 points and season high nine rebounds. No other Cougar scored in double digit points.
"In our last three games the opposing teams have outshot us from the free throw line. They still made 20 and we shot 13. The reasons for this is because we don't defensive rebound and we don't position ourselves while the ball is in the air or while guarding the ball. Big problems and we aren't getting to the free throw line on the other end for some reason which that I don't feel like is our fault. When we fix our fouling issues we will find ourselves in more games."
Game two saw a different result on the scoreboard as the Coastal Bend Cougars went to New Orleans to play the Delgado Community College Dolphins. It was a Thanksgiving weekend extra treat for the Cougars as they left the first quarter up 24-8 not allowing the Dolphins to score but 1 point after the three-minute mark in the first. The second was similar to the first seeing the Dolphins scoring a few more points and at halftime Coastal Bend led 51-22.
The third and fourth were much closer as Coastal Bend won both quarters but only by a combined five points. Coastal Bend left New Orleans and Delgado with a 90-56 victory.
Led by Savanna Smith with 34 points on 15-18 shooting and 4-4 from downtown. She also had 7 steals. She tied her career high and did that in limited minutes. "She can flat out score the ball and sees best defenders and double teams a majority of her plays," Coach Purswell said.
Three other Cougars joined her with double figures with Sincere Roberts with 11 points, Cierra Zapata with 10 points and 3-4 downtown, and finally Asia Wheeler with 10 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
"I'm very proud of the fact that we turned on the pressure and scored the ball as well as we did. This team really deserves this win as they have fought so hard most of the season. Again we were 36-78 from field and 9-23 from 3-point line. We shot 13 free throws and they shot 30 and we found a way to win this one. This team fights through a lot of adversity and is very resilient. We need to get to work and fix some things being smaller than most teams. The fight is there. Just need to figure out how to attack from the start and respond when things don't go our way. Get a couple of tough scores when the ball isn't falling and a few extra rebounds when we can't get stops or create a few turnovers in the open court. No matter what, we fight. I'm very proud of what these girls have done and how hard they compete," Coach Purswell says.
Next up, Coastal Bend is at home for a rematch against Temple on Wednesday December 1st at 5:00 PM at the Peter S. Marecek Physical Fitness Center.