EMCC basketball teams to host East Central Tuesday before traveling to Meridian for Thursday twin bill
The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams tip off the new calendar year by taking on a pair of rival schools this week. EMCC opens the week by playing host to East Central Community College Tuesday evening on the Scooba campus.
SCOOBA – The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams tip off the new calendar year by taking on a pair of rival schools this week. EMCC opens the week by playing host to East Central Community College Tuesday evening on the Scooba campus. A 5:30 p.m. women's game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
On Thursday, the EMCC squads will travel to Meridian for a 6/8 p.m. men's/women's hoops doubleheader against Meridian Community College to be played at Graham Gymnasium on the MCC campus.
This week's rivalry games will be rematches of prior head-to-head battles played last semester. In fact, the East Central women were the Lady Lions' most recent hardwood opponent, as the Lady Warriors claimed a 49-41 home victory over visiting EMCC a month ago (Dec. 6) in Decatur. In the men's contest played last month on East Central's campus, the Lions posted an 82-72 road triumph over the Warriors.
In his sixth season as the EMCC men's basketball coach, Mark White owns an 11-2 career mark against East Central, including a current 10-game series winning streak against the Warriors. Eighth-year EMCC women's coach Sharon Thompson is 5-10 all-time versus East Central dating back to 2005-06, though those five series wins over the Lady Warriors have come during the last nine head-to-head meetings since 2008-09.
This season, the EMCC Lions are 6-4 overall, including a 64-58 win at Holmes Community College in their Nov. 29 division opener, after most recently collecting fourth-place team honors at the prestigious Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout, hosted by Mesa Community College just after Christmas in Mesa, Ariz. After tipping off the three-day tournament (Dec. 28-30) with a 73-59 victory over 18th-ranked Central Arizona College, EMCC subsequently dropped close decisions to eventual tourney champion Salt Lake CC (68-61) and host Mesa CC (84-81) on successive days.
Idle from game competition for the past month, EMCC's Lady Lions are 1-9 overall and will be attempting to snap an eight-game losing skid. Their lone victory of the current season to date was a 50-48 double-overtime win over San Jacinto College back on Nov. 3 in Baton Rouge, La.
Fans not able to attend EMCC's basketball games in person this season can follow the Lions and Lady Lions through video-streamed broadcasts available on the school's Ustream channel at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/emcc-basketball. EMCC media director/athletic video coordinator Derek Cody provides the play-by-play during EMCC's video-streamed basketball broadcasts. Fans are also able to follow East Mississippi Community College Athletics through the school's newly launched athletics website - www.EMCCAthletics.com – as well as via EMCC's Facebook (EMCCAthletics) and Twitter (@EMCCAthletics) pages and on YouTube (EMCCAthletics).