Bailey Wilson and the host Barbe Bucs saved their best for last in their opening game at the Lake Charles Toyota/Jeff Davis Bank Southwest Shootout, beating the Iowa Yellow Jackets 43-39 Wednesday night with a dominant fourth quarter.

Aeriyl Mass broke a tie with two free throws with 26 seconds left and Wilson scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half. Barbe never led over the first three quarters but outscored Iowa 20-6 in the fourth quarter to escape with a win.

The Bucs (5-4) scored the first 10 points of the quarter and took its first lead of the game with 3:55 left on a basket by Brandi Williams.

Iowa’s (7-3) Danae Williams tied the score at 39 with a layup with 35 seconds left, but Mass was fouled near halfcourt and made both free throws to put the Bucs ahead for good.

Wilson sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining.

“We started playing with heart and playing intense,” Barbe head coach Katie Kennedy said of the fourth quarter. “We started to wake up and play.”

Barbe held Iowa scoreless on its first 10 possessions of the final quarter.

“We went man-to-man (defense), our girls seem to wake up and play hard when we plan man,” Kennedy said.

“I think it is good for us. We didn’t change anything offensively, it was just intensity,” she said. “In the first half, we tend to slough off and not play, we wait to see what the other team is going to do.”

Kennedy said she liked the intangibles her team showed down the stretch.

“I learned we can fight back from any circumstance,” she said. “We never gave up, which is good with us being so young.”

Arianna Dargin led Iowa with 16 points. Bethany Broussard scored 12. Iowa led by 12 points at halftime and by as many as 14 in the third quarter.(Rick Hickman/American Press)

Rick Hickman