Highlassies outlast Coastal Bend

The McLennan Highlassies escaped with a road win Friday in Beeville, defeating the Coastal Bend Lady Cougars 89-75.

Colandria Haynes found Chiqueria Cook cutting through the lane for an easy layup with 9:34 to play in the first to put McLennan on the board. A free throw by Taiya Dixon and 3-pointer by Samantha Atkinson-Roach put Coastal Bend up 4-2 with eight minutes to play in the first. The Lady Cougars extended their lead to five, 12-7, midway through the period. The Highlassies found their rhythm and ended the quarter on a 12-0 run to take the 19-12 lead going into the second.

McLennan stepped up their offense and defense in the second quarter. The Highlassies outscored the Lady Cougars 21-14 including a 9-0 run down the stretch to double their lead at the break, 40-26.

The Highlassies continued to pull away in the third, opening on a 17-4 run, and extended their lead to 21 heading into the final period, 63-42. Coastal Bend made it interesting in the fourth as the Lady Cougars got into a groove with strong shooting and pressure defense. Coastal Bend rallied, cutting the McLennan lead to six, 81-75, with 1:23 remaining in the game, but the Highlassies ended the game on an 8-0 run, including going 6-6 from the free throw line, to seal the win.

KeeKee Nowlin and Nadia Hayes led the way for the Highlassies with 19 points each. Jaylonn Walker added 14 and Velma Mitchell had 10.

The Highlassies will take a break for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action Nov. 24 & 25 at the Budke/Serna Thanksgiving Classic in Athens. McLennan will face Tallahassee (Florida) at 3 p.m. Friday and Panola at 2 p.m. Saturday.

McLennan: Patrickia Daily 0 0-0 0; Colandria Haynes 1 4-4 7; JonNá McDonald 0 0-0 0; Shekenia Green 0 0-0 0; Velma Mitchell 4 2-6 11; KeeKee Nowlin 7 4-4 19; Jaylonn Walker 4 6-7 14; Raveen Blue 1 0-0 2; Shankia Clark 3 2-4 8; Nadia Hayes 5 9-10 19; Chiqueria Cook 1 0-1 2; Anndrea Lloyd 3 0-0 7; Totals: 29 27-35 89.

Coastal Bend: Marissa Andrews 0 0-0 0; Darias Whittington 9 1-1 24; Precious Lopez 2 0-0 4; Destiny Knight 1 102 4; McKenna Christler 0 0-0 0; Aryanna Brown 1 0-0 2; Angelina Barela 2 1-2 9; Samantha Atkinson-Roach 3 6-12 13; Taiya Dixon 2 3-4 7; Emiko Hemphill 2 0-0 4; Norman 2 2-2 8; Totals: 25 14-23 75.

3-pointers: McLennan 4 (Haynes 1, Mitchell 1, Nowlin 1, Lloyd 1), Coastal Bend 11 (Whittington 5, Norman 2, Barela 2, Knight 1, Atkinson-Roach 1); Total fouls: McLennan 17, Coastal Bend 21; Fouled out: Coastal Bend (Knight); Halftime score: McLennan 40, Coastal Bend 26; Record: McLennan 6-2.