Pair of double-doubles sparks EMCC women to 58-38 win at Delta; Lions fall 85-72 to Trojans in men's nightcap

MOORHEAD – The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams resumed MACJC North Division action Monday night on the road by splitting with Mississippi Delta Community College at J.T. Hall Coliseum.  The Lady Lions remained unbeaten in division play with a convincing 58-38 victory, while the Lions dropped an 85-72 decision in the men's nightcap.

In the opener, the EMCC women, now 8-2 overall and 2-0 in division play, jumped to an 8-0 lead and never looked back after putting together a strong opening quarter.  Sophomore guard Ki-Ki Patterson's 10 first-quarter points on five baskets lifted the Lady Lions to a 23-9 advantage after the initial 10 minutes of play.

Following EMCC's solid opening period offensively, the women's contest turned a bit sluggish during the next two quarters as neither team could mount any type of scoring consistency.  After the teams combined for only 15 second-quarter points, the visitors essentially put the contest out of reach early in the second half.  Freshman Quantesha Patterson and transfer point guard Tianna Germain combined to score all 13 of the Lady Lions' third-quarter points to bolster their 43-24 advantage heading into the final period.

With the Patterson tandem each registering double-doubles on the evening, the EMCC women maintained their comfortable double-digit margin over the final 10 minutes en route to the 20-point road victory.  A former prep All-American at Columbus High School, Ki-Ki Patterson dominated on both ends of the court throughout the game by finishing with 16 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double.  She also added seven steals and four assists to complete her solid all-around performance.

Her namesake, Quantesha Patterson, recorded her sixth double-double in 10 games for head coach Sharon Thompson's Lady Lions by finishing with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds after getting off to a slow start in the contest.  The former prep standout from last year's state champion East Webster High School squad connected on 9-of-14 shots from the field to produce her sixth 20-point effort of the season.

Falling for the 11th time in 12 decisions on the year, the Lady Trojans did not have a player score in double figures on the night.  McKinnon Skeen and O'Nesha Hunt led the way for Delta with nine and eight points, respectively.

In the nightcap, the Lions scored 13 unanswered points during a 21-7 first-half run to turn an early 17-10 deficit into a 31-24 lead with six minutes remaining in the half.  Sophomore guard Daniel Simmons sparked East Mississippi's offense by drilling a trio of 3-pointers during that span to give the visitors the temporary upper hand.  The Trojans responded by out-scoring EMCC, 13-4, the rest of the half, including a put-back basket by Mark Johnson at the halftime buzzer, to take a slim 37-35 lead into intermission.                      

After the break, the Lions rallied from an eight-point deficit midway through the second half to trim Delta's lead to just three points (64-61) on a 3-pointer by David McFarland.  The Trojans again responded by scoring the game's next five points to push the margin back up to eight points with less than five minutes remaining.

Any chance that EMCC had of possibly getting back into the game down the stretch was nearly single-handedly thwarted by the inside presence of Travon Harper, who converted three consecutive baskets around the rim to extend Delta's lead to 13 points (78-65).  The sophomore forward from McNeil, Arkansas scored 16 of his team-high 18 points after halftime to ignite MDCC's second-half surge.

Improving to 9-4 overall and 1-1 within the division with the 13-point victory, the home-standing Trojans also received 15 and 10 points from Dantaveous Crawford and Octavius Stimage, respectively.

Falling to 10-2 on the season with both losses coming in division play, head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions again featured balanced scoring with four players in double digits.  Simmons, from Biggersville, led the way with 18 points and seven rebounds.  West Point's Juan Davis Jr. followed with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Jahyde Gardiner and Nat Dixon added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The East Mississippi basketball teams return home to play host to Coahoma Community College in a Thursday hoops twin-bill 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.