The Orange Leader

LITTLE CYPRESS — There is no doubt that the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears would love to repeat what they did last year on the basketball court.

They got off to a flying start to start their 2015-16 campaign Tuesday night at The Bear Cave, dominating the Port Neches-Groves Lady Indians 48-24 in the season opener for both teams.

Coach Linda Riddick welcomed back two key starters off last year’s squad in point guard Grace Chen and post Sheridan Rogers. That team went 21-12, shared the District 24-4A title with the Bridge City Lady Cardinals and reached the area round of the playoffs.

Also, several key bench players from last year are looking to make an impact in the forms of Alia Brown, Maddie Frey, Alyssa McKellar and Kaitlin McCallon.

All played key roles in the blowout victory over the Lady Indians on Tuesday. Nine of the Lady Bears had points while all 11 of them grabbed at least one rebound as they cruised to the victory.

Chen led the LC-M attack with 15 points while also grabbing five rebounds.

The Lady Bears (1-0) jumped on PN-G (0-1) early as they sprinted out to a 14-5 edge at the end of the first quarter.

LC-M was able to increase its lead to 26-11 at intermission as they forced PN-G into 13 first-half turnovers.

The Lady Indians did not score a basket in the third quarter until around the 2-minute mark, as the Lady Bears controlled the game at 37-14 at the end of the period. PN-G did manage 10 points in the fourth quarter but the Lady Bears tallied 11.

Both teams struggled from the free-throw line. PN-G made just 8 of 22 charity shots while the Lady Bears went only 5 of 12.

Mary Grace led the PN-G attack with seven points and a game-high nine rebounds. Destiny Post contributed eight points while Tessa Miller and Brooke Ramirez grabbed five rebounds apiece.