EMCC racks up another clutch division road sweep with 76-74 women's win and 94-68 men's victory at Northwest
With their second road sweep of an upper-echelon division foe in as many weeks, the East Mississippi Community College basketball teams successfully capped the first half of the MACJC North Division regular-season slate by prevailing in women's action, 76-74, as well as men's play, 94-68, over Northwest Mississippi Community College Monday evening at Howard Coliseum.
SENATOBIA – With their second road sweep of an upper-echelon division foe in as many weeks, the East Mississippi Community College basketball teams successfully capped the first half of the MACJC North Division regular-season slate by prevailing in women's action, 76-74, as well as men's play, 94-68, over Northwest Mississippi Community College Monday evening at Howard Coliseum.
Including last Tuesday's key road sweep over Itawamba, the EMCC women maintained their division lead by improving to 12-2 overall and a perfect 6-0 within the division while the Lions evened their division mark at 3-3 and upped their overall record to 13-3 on the season.
In women's action Monday night on the NWCC campus, the visitors got down early and trailed by as many as 11 points in the second quarter. The Lady Lions began their comeback late in the quarter by cutting a 10-point deficit in half to trail by only five points (39-34) at the intermission.
As the second half began, EMCC continued to cut into the margin before taking its first lead (46-45) since very early in the contest on a Tianna Germain basket midway through the third quarter. With 11 points in the quarter, the inside play of freshman sensation Quantesha Patterson enabled the Lady Lions to maintain a 55-51 advantage heading into the final session.
Battling for midseason supremacy within the division, the two teams fought to the final buzzer. With EMCC ahead by just a single point heading into the game's final two minutes of play, back-to-back inside buckets by Patterson and a timely jumper by T.J. Harper off the bench gave the visitors a 71-66 lead.
The Lady Rangers managed to pull to within two points (73-71) with 33 seconds left and moments later to within just a single point (75-74) on a 3-pointer by Sara Lytle. Down the stretch, however, EMCC sophomore Ki-Ki Patterson hit three crucial free throws over the final 16.6 seconds and added a timely blocked shot on the defensive end to help secure the Lady Lions' sixth consecutive victory on the year – their longest such streak since the 2008-09 campaign.
For head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC squad, Quantesha Patterson pumped in a season-high 34 points on 15-of-20 shooting from the field for her fourth 30-point effort of her freshman season. The former East Webster High School standout added 13 rebounds, including six offensive boards, to register her eighth double-double in 14 games this season. Ki-Ki Patterson, a Columbus High School product, followed with 16 points for the winners.
Dropping to 11-3 overall and 4-2 within the division, the NWCC women were led by Lytle's 29 points. Brianna Williams and Kelsey Brown followed with 16 and 13 points, respectively.
In the men's nightcap, the Lions shook off an early 8-2 deficit by scoring nine unanswered points midway through the opening half to initially establish control of the game. After EMCC moved ahead by double digits, the home-standing Rangers cut the deficit to just three points (39-36) by the halftime break on consecutive jumpers by Dre'Kalo Clayton.
Midway through the second half, the visitors began to slowly break open the tight contest by making a 7-0 run to extend a five-point lead to a dozen points (66-54). With sophomore Jahyde Gardiner scoring 17 of his game-high 28 points following intermission, the Lions steadily lengthened their lead throughout the remainder of the contest to claim the final 26-point margin.
Bouncing back from their worst shooting effort (32.3% FGs) of the season during last Thursday's home loss to Holmes, the Lions rallied back to shoot 54.1 percent (33-61 FGs) from the field, including 9-of-16 (56.3%) from beyond the three-point arc, against Northwest. EMCC also corrected things on the boards by out-rebounding the Rangers, 43-26, for the game.
Gardiner, a UT Martin signee, hit 8-of-16 shots from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, and 10-of-14 charity tosses to go along with 12 rebounds to register his 16th career double-double and fourth in his last six games this season. Rebounding from his season-low, two-point outing (1-9 FGs) last week against Holmes, sophomore guard Daniel Simmons hit his first five shots versus Northwest en route to a 23-point evening. Nat Dixon and Juan Davis Jr. added 15 and 12 points, respectively, for head coach Billy Begley's EMCC squad.
Falling to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in division play, the Northwest Rangers were paced by Clayton's 19 points. Lewis Freeman added a dozen points for the home team.
The East Mississippi basketball teams will begin the second half of the MACJC regular-season hoops slate by traveling to Booneville to take on the Tigers of Northeast Mississippi Community College on Thursday.