West Ouachita 58, Bastrop 32
West Ouachita was in control from start to finish on its way to a 58-32 victory over the Bastrop Lady Rams on Friday night.
Scoring on five of their first six possessions, the Lady Chiefs jumped out to an early 10-0 lead.
Shelby Carlson's three-point play, a Jewell McGuffie free throw, Dai Strong's steal and layup, Abigail Africa's transition basket and McGuffie's bucket off of a nice pass from Abby Simmons staked the visitors to the early lead.
Bastrop, meanwhile, opened the game with six scoreless possessions before Javia Kennedy connected from the elbow and Cynthia Washington's six-footer reduced the margin to 10-4. That was as close as the Lady Rams would get.
Simmons drained a baseline jumper off the inbounds pass from Carlson, and McGuffie made one-of-two from the line to put West Ouachita up 13-4.
Tiffany Washington connected from the perimeter to close the gap to 13-6 at the end of the quarter.
Leading 18-10, the Lady Chiefs went on a 13-0 spree to put the game away at halftime. Africa scored 13 of her game-high 20 points on 7-of-7 free throw shooting in the second quarter as West Ouachita's lead swelled to 34-13.
Bastrop was never closer than 20 in the second half.
Strong poured in 12 of her 19 points in the second half to join Africa in double figures. West Ouachita (15-9, 1-1) also received scoring contributions from Carlson with seven, McGuffie with five, Simmons with four, Carlee Sweet with two and Willi Oshon with one.
Kennedy provided the bulk of the Lady Rams' (5-13, 0-2) offense with 14 points. Cynthia Washington was next with five, followed by Destiny Cephas with three, and TyDeijah Minnieweather, Chyberia Wilson, Casual Williams, Martianna Johnson and Tiffany Washington with two apiece.
West Ouachita shot 19-of-40 (47.5 percent from the floor), was 1-of-1 from 3-point range and 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) from the free throw line.
Continuing to struggle offensively, the Lady Rams made 11-of-63 (17.4 percent) shots while going 0-for-10 from 3-point distance and 5-of-10 from the line.
Bastrop has three home games next week vs. North Webster on Monday, Epps on Tuesday and Neville on Friday.