The Lady Bears traveled to Manhattan, Kans. to take on the Manhattan Christian College last Friday night. Both teams were looking for their first win in Midwest Christian College Conference play as the Bears were 0-2 and the Thunder were 0-3.

After a back-and-forth first half, the Bears had a 5 point lead, 34-29. The Bears used balanced scoring as all 8 players who got minutes in the half scored, led by senior RaeLyn Epp (Corn, Okla.) with 8 and freshman Rebekah Fitch (Argonia, Kans.) with 7. In the second half, the Bears came out looking to build on their lead and widened the margin to as many as 15 points mid-way through the third quarter. However, with full court pressure and multiple 3-point shots, the Thunder cut the lead back down to 5 by the end of the period. This time the Thunder carried the momentum into the final period to snatch their first MCCC win, 76-72. Three pointers and free throws ended up being the downfall of the Bears as the Thunder hit 5 3’s and shot 24 free throws in the second half alone.

The Bears were led by Epp with 25 points, followed by freshman Hannah Brown (Haviland, Kans.) with 12, freshman Allison Cochran (Platteville, Colo.) with 11, and senior Shandy Edenborough (Goodwell, Okla.) with 10.

The Bears followed up their tight loss to Manhattan with their final regular season Southwest Region game against Dallas Christian on Tuesday night. Even though the Kansas’ wind chill tinkered in single digits, their was plenty of action in the gym to keep things warm. The Bears trailed by 10 at halftime, but they came out of the locker room ready to pull off the upset. They outscored the Crusaders 14-11 in the third quarter to set the stage for a dramatic fourth quarter. Once again, Epp led the charge. If she wasn’t scoring, she was assisting. In the waning moments of the game, the Bears had multiple chances to tie or take the lead, but were unable to muster up enough offense. The Crusaders would tip-toe out of town with a 68-64 win.

Epp finished the night with 22 points and 6 assists while Edenborough added 11 points and ripped down 14 monstrous boards.

The Bears are back in MCCC action on Thursday and Friday. They will host Faith Baptist on Thursday and then travel to Manhattan to play Emmaus Bible on Friday.