CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team used a strong, second-half surge to claim its first Gulf South Conference victory of the season as it held on to top Christian Brothers, 66-64, inside A.E. Wood Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 27. MC improved to 2-3 and 1-1 in the conference while the Lady Bucs fell to 0-6 and 0-2 in the league.
 
Amelia Bell paced the Blue and Gold with her fourth, career double-double. The O'Fallon, Ill., native led the team with a career-high 19 points and pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds. Her previous scoring best was 17 points at West Alabama on Feb. 26, 2022. She added a team-best and season-high four blocks to her ledger on the night.
 
Karly Ivy joined the redshirt sophomore with a career-best scoring night as she poured in 14 points. Her previous best was 13 points against Union University on Jan. 14, 2023. Brett Gardner rounded out the double-figure scoring producers with 10 points.
 
The Choctaw shot 43.4 percent from the floor and connected on 77.3 percent from the free-throw line. The team also pulled down 39 rebounds.

"I know everyone loves high scoring and 20-points wins," said head coach Greg Long. "To be completely honest, this was the type of game that you find out the grit a team has and that group of nine showed a lot of it. I could not be happier with the total team effort and togetherness they showed tonight. It helped to have three players in double figures."
 
After trailing 35-29 at the intermission, MC outscored the Red and Black 18-12 in the third period to take a 47-all stalemate into the final 10 minutes. The Choctaw took their first significant lead of the game at the midway point of the final stanza on a Mya Bobo bucket in the paint. It was two of the Blue and Gold's 20 points in the paint on the night. The team's biggest lead of the game came one-minute later as Bell converted on the backend of a pair of free throws.
 
The Blue and Gold clung to the lead over the next four minutes, but CBU clipped the deficit to within a point with 30 seconds remaining on an Ever Walker 3-pointer. Sky Vaughn pushed the advantage back to three points on a layup, but Walker helped narrow the margin to a point again as she hit two-of-three, free throws. Kaylee Jones drew a foul with five ticks left in the game and knocked down the first of a pair of free throws.
 
Tae Leatherwood attempted to send the contest to an extra session, but came up short as the Choctaws walked away with the two-point lead.
 
Jeremia Montgomery led CBU with 26 points. The Lady Bucs shot 38.2 percent from the field, including 3-for-9 from behind the arc, and a 73.1 clip from the charity stripe. They also totaled 30 boards.
 
Mississippi College returns to action on Friday, Dec. 1 as it travels to Pensacola, Fla., to face the University of West Florida. Tip-off in the UWF Field House is set for 5:30 p.m.
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