New-look East Mississippi basketball teams take the court this week to open 2014-15 hoops campaign
The new-look East Mississippi Community College basketball teams will tip off the 2014-15 campaign this week with a Tuesday road doubleheader at Alabama Southern Community College in addition to a Thursday home twin bill against rival Meridian Community College. Thursday's hoops action against Meridian CC on the Scooba campus will feature a 5:30 p.m. women's game followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
SCOOBA – The new-look East Mississippi Community College basketball teams will tip off the 2014-15 campaign this week with a Tuesday road doubleheader at Alabama Southern Community College in addition to a Thursday home twin bill against rival Meridian Community College. Thursday's hoops action against Meridian CC on the Scooba campus will feature a 5:30 p.m. women's game followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
With both EMCC basketball teams coming off successful seasons a year ago, 10th-year head coach Sharon Thompson's Lady Lions will feature a completely new roster with seven freshmen from the Mississippi prep ranks and six transfers from either four-year schools or other junior colleges. Coach Mark White, beginning his eighth season with the Lions, will suit up a dozen freshmen on his 16-player roster.
Reigning regular-season champions of the MACJC North Division with records of 16-9 overall and 11-1 within the division a year ago, Thompson's 2014-15 Lady Lions figure to be led by Mississippi State transfer Ki-Ki Patterson of Columbus and former Ole Miss signee Quinn Ford from Okolona. Patterson was a 2012-13 Parade All-American at Columbus High School after averaging 32.3 points per game as a senior. Returning to the court following a two-year layoff from competition, Ford was named the 2011-12 Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Player of the Year upon averaging 22.6 points an outing as a senior in leading Pontotoc High School to a perfect 34-0 mark and Class 4A state championship.
EMCC's other in-state first-year women's players include guards Bre Jernigan (Tupelo), Annessia Durham (Raymond HS), Cambrielle Campbell (Brandon HS), T.J. Harper (Germantown HS), and Camry Jones (Nettleton HS). Including native Mississippians Angeline Earl (McComb), Alecha Gibbs (Richland HS) and Robyn Rush (Kemper County HS), the 2014-15 Lady Lions also feature a half-dozen sophomore transfers. In addition to Earl (Gulf Coast State College [FL]), Gibbs (NCAA DII member Palm Beach Atlantic University [FL]) and Rush (Lurleen B. Wallace CC [AL]), out-of-state transfers Shannon DeFoe (Paris [TX] JC), Teeria Vaughan (Moberly Area CC [MO]) and Ashley Johnson (Paris [TX] JC) will also look to add experience to EMCC's new-look Lady Lion contingent.
Ranked (24th) this preseason for the fifth consecutive year, the EMCC men's team looks to be talent-laden and deep though at the same time youthful and inexperienced. Having notched a fifth straight 20-win season (20-7) a year ago, the Lions appear to be primed to regain the form that has recently cemented the East Mississippi men's basketball program among the nation's elite as four-time (2010-13) NJCAA Tournament participants and Region 23 Tournament champions.
Sophomore guard Antonio Finley is the lone returning EMCC player who saw action for the Lions a year ago. The Meridian High School product averaged 5.5 points per game and made 35 three-point field goals as a collegiate freshman. Fellow sophomore backcourt performer Chris Rhoney, a West Lauderdale High School product, sat out last season on the Scooba campus after transferring from East Central CC.
Among the Lions' in-state newcomers include a pair of former prep teammate tandems in Jontavius Baker and Dontavius Self from Starkville as well as Dandrick Fifer and Antonio Wilson out of Byhalia. Along with adding local district area standouts Juan Davis Jr. of West Point and J'Vaughnte Harris from Meridian, the EMCC men also feature Magnolia State products La'Datren Deas (Pascagoula), Denarrius Gray (Scott Central HS), Daniel Simmons (Biggersville), Montrael Nabors (Lafayette County HS), and James Jordan (Raymond HS), who will sit out this season after suffering a preseason injury.
Out-of-state pickups for the Lions include sophomore transfer Shelvick Henry Jr., out of Indian State River College in Fort Pierce, Fla., Gervelle Kidd, a product of Virginia's Hargrave Military Academy, and Jahyde Gardiner, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., who completed his prep career a year ago at Potter's House Christian Academy in Florida.
Again this season, East Mississippi Community College is making plans to live video-stream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/emcc-basketball) a full slate of home and road basketball doubleheaders via the school's athletics website, www.EMCCAthletics.com.