The Orange Leader

LITTLE CYPRESS — Finding their shooting touch in the second half, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears notched a 66-59 District 22-4A victory over the West Orange-Stark Mustangs in front of a packed house at The Bear Cave Tuesday night.

The Bears (22-12, 8-2), the second-place team out of 22-4A to wrap up the regular season, trailed the Mustangs (10-15, 5-5) 30-25 at the half.

However, the Bears scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and went on a 19-6 run to go up 44-36 entering the fourth.

The Mustangs tried to rally back but the Bears got it done from the free-throw line late to preserve the victory.

Senior guard Ayson Simmons powered the LCM arsenal with 21 points, 12 coming in the second half.

Katon Brown chimed in with 16 points and seven boards. LCM sharpshooter Keegan Sonnier found the range, ripping four three-pointers for the night, three of them in the second half as he finished with 16 points.

The Mustangs wound up in a third-place tie with Bridge City (15-11, 5-5). Both teams are in the playoffs and they will break the third-place tie with a game later this week. Bridge City fell to first-place Silsbee 102-35 Tuesday.

Point guard KJ Miller paced the Mustang attack with 21 points, 12 coming in the second half. Cory Skinner contributed 12 points and six boards. Terron Brown had eight points and five rebounds. Jay’len Mathews had seven points and seven rebounds and Malick Phillips added seven rebounds.

The Mustangs finished with a 36-24 rebounding edge. Jacolven Provost had six boards for the Bears.

The Bears got it done from the charity stripe, converting 23 of 31 from the free-throw line. WOS finished just 5-of-13. LCM had 11 turnovers while WOS had 10.

WOS started the game with a 10-0 run as the Bears narrowed it to 18-12 at the end of the period and trimmed it to five at intermission.

HAMSHIRE-FANNETT 56, ORANGEFIELD 51

FANNETT — The Orangefield Bobcats dropped a 56-51 decision to Hamshire-Fannett Tuesday night at Longhorn Gym as both teams wrapped up 22-4A with 1-9 marks and the Bobcats finished 9-18 overall.

Wesley Frillou led the Bobcats with 14 points as he buried four three-pointers. Payton Lathrop tallied 13 points while Caleb Kress added eight.

Alex Catt finished with five points and a team-high seven rebounds.

4A GIRLS

LUFKIN HUDSON 51, BRIDGE CITY 41

HUFFMAN — The Bridge City Lady Cardinals fell to the Lufkin Hudson Lady Hornets 51-41 on Tuesday night in Huffman in Class 4A Region III bi-district playoff action at Huffman High School.

The Lady Cardinals, led by Hannah Wiegreffe with 15 points on the night, lost a close game to the Lady Hornets led by Baleigh Hudman with 12 points.

The first quarter was tough for the Lady Cardinals, as they gave up 17 points in the quarter.  The Lady Hornets found success from the three point-line making three.  Gracie England ripped two long shots from downtown to pull the lead even further.  Wiegreffe made a three-point bomb of her own late in the quarter, but Lufkin Hudson went up early 17-7 to end the first.

Bridge City found their footing on the defensive side creating more turnovers and forcing contested shots on the outside. The Lady Cards rallied late to bring the score to 25-16 to end the first half.

The third quarter belonged to the Lady Hornets as they stretched their lead even farther tacking on 15 more points as they led 40-26 entering the final period.

The Lady Cardinals needed an answer and fast.

The Lady Cardinals fought hard in the fourth quarter finding Wiegreffe on the perimeter for seven points. Even with a strong defense by Bridge City, Lufkin Hudson held on to their lead.