By Kyle Roberts
Turnovers were the dominant narrative for both teams as Ruston and West Monroe combined for 52 total giveaways on the night as Ruston would fall to West Monroe 48-42 on the road.
“I was pretty surprised at how handled it just on the offensive end in general,” Ruston head coach Meredith Graf said. “I thought we were kind of, I don’t know, unsure? Maybe that’s a good word. I really don’t know the cause of it. And I don’t want to try to be disrespectful. It was kind of like a hot potato in a bad way. And so it’s really hard as a coach. There’s only so much you can tell them and try to help them position and then basically tell them what passes to look for; that kind of thing. I mean, it’s just frustrating. It’s frustrating for the players. I mean, it’s not like anybody wants a turnover. But yeah, there were a lot of uncharacteristic turnovers by several people that we normally don’t have.”
After a 1-1 tie for most of the first quarter, West Monroe would use a 10-2 run for the final 3 minutes of the period to age an 11-3 lead into the second quarter. The Lady Bearcats would use a 7-3 run to open the second quarter to cut the lead back to 14-10 with five minutes to go before halftime.
West Monroe would take a 24-20 lead into the halftime locker room.
Ruston would tie the game in the third quarter with a layup by Junior Jaliyah McWain at the 5:42 mark before taking the lead 27-25 on a put back by senior Marcy Parker. The teams would head to the fourth quarter tied at 35-35.
Both team would tack on five points early in the fourth quarter before West Monroe ran off five straight points to lead 45-40 at the 2:52 mark. The Lady Rebels would not relinquish the lead en route to the 48-42 win.
McWain led Ruston in scoring with 21 points.
The Lady Bearcats return to action Friday, Feb. 3, at Ouachita.
