Lady Bears secure ‘confidence-builder’ win in tournament

Published 8:00 am Thursday, November 24, 2022

Highland Baptist picked up its first win of the young season on Monday at St. Thomas More’s Lady Cougar Classic.

The Lady Bears defeated Sam Houston in the first day of the round-robin format 63-52. The Bears used a 22-point third quarter to build a double-digit lead heading into the final period.

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MiKiyiah Olivier led the scoring parade with 19 points. Yvette Olivier added 18 points, Kiara Comeaux had 16 and Logan Boutte scored eight.

The Bears (1-2) made 13 of 16 free throws and were able to overcome foul trouble. Madison Clark fouled out, and Comeaux and the Olivier sisters each had four fouls.

“That was a confidence builder against a good team,” Bears coach Carol Sensley said. “We were able to control the temp. Defensively, we did some good things. We made our free throws, which is key, and we executed down the stretch.”

Boutte, a freshman who excels at driving to the basket, has given the Bears another bona fide scorer.

“She’s been a great addition,” Sensley said. “She can definitely score the basketball.”

On Tuesday, the Bears dropped a 75-61 decision to Albany, which reached the Class 3A quarterfinals last season.

The Bears trailed 6-0 early in the first quarter but quickly closed the gap to 11-10 on Boutte’s six points, and a steal and a lay-up from Comeaux. Boutte picked up her third foul in the first quarter, however, and played sparingly the rest of the first half.

The Bears continued to hang tough, whittling an eight-point deficit to three (22-19) on Yvette Olivier’s 3-pointer, and two free throws each from Comeaux and MiKiyiah Olivier.

The Hornets (4-0), who led 39-28 at the half, got a 10-0 run to start the third quarter and were up 62-41 heading into the fourth.

“I’m proud of our team,” Sensley said. “We kept battling. We kept fighting. I knew this was going to be a physical game against a really good Albany team.

“One of the things we’ve talked about is being able to handle a fast-paced game. Also, we wanted to be able to adjust to the physicality, and I thought we did. We responded, and I thought we handled ourselves well against a really good basketball team.”

Yvette Olivier led the Bears with 20 points. Kiara Comeaux added 19 points with Logan Boutte chipping in 12 points, and MiKiyiah Olivier contributed eight points.

“I’ve been very proud of MiKiyiah, Kiara and Yvette,” Sensley said. “They’ve been carrying us. Madison Clark has been rebounding the basketball.”

The Bears were scheduled to face Walker, which went 33-4 and reached the Class 5A semifinals as the No. 1 seed, in the final day of the STM tourney on Wednesday. St. Thomore More edged the Bears 65-60 in the season opener.