Lions to host Northwest Mississippi in 2021 men's hoops season opener

SCOOBA — East Mississippi Community College's much-anticipated 2021 basketball season is set to tip off Thursday evening against Northwest Mississippi Community College at opposing venues.  The EMCC Lions will play host to the Rangers at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum in Scooba, while the Lady Lions will travel to Senatobia for women's action at Northwest's Howard Coliseum.  The MACCC North Division season openers are both slated to begin at 6 p.m.

All EMCC men's and women's basketball home games this season are scheduled to be live-streamed at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live.  Thursday's EMCC-Northwest women's season opener from Senatobia is set to be live-streamed at www.nwccrangers.com/watch.

Delayed and shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing virus protocols, the 2021 Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) basketball schedule will primarily be comprised of home-and-home series between intra-divisional opponents.  Due to COVID-19 protocols in place that will likely limit personnel allowed at all MACCC basketball venues this season, member schools throughout the conference will not be playing men's/women's doubleheaders at the same site on a scheduled game night.  Instead, the men's and women's contests scheduled between two schools on a given game night will be played at opposite home courts of the participating teams.

Sixth-year EMCC head men's coach Billy Begley returns four of his team's top six leading scorers, along with the two leading rebounders and two of the top three playmakers, from last year's 16-9 Lions squad that finished as division runners-up with a 9-3 league mark and participated in postseason play for the second straight year.

Headlining the team's six talented returners will be all-conference forward Jakorie Smith (Raymond HS) and third-year swing man Arecko Gipson Jr. (Memphis, TN).  Smith earned All-Region 23 honors as a freshman after averaging a team-leading 15.2 points and club-best 8.4 rebounds per game.  Gipson was the Lions' third-leading scorer (12.8 ppg) and No. 2 rebounder (5.6 rpg) a year ago after sitting out EMCC's 2018-19 conference championship season as a medical redshirt.

The Lions also welcome back sophomore backcourt standouts Danny Washington (Greenville) and Traemond Pittman (Meridian), who combined to average 13.5 points, six rebounds and nearly five assists an outing in 35 combined starts between them as EMCC freshmen.

Also returning for EMCC are sophomore sharpshooter Romeo Sanders (Caledonia HS) along with medical redshirt forwards Elijah Newsome (East Central HS) and D'Antonio Deloach (Noxubee County HS).

Looking to make immediate impacts for the Lions this season are highly touted guards Blake Butler and Hunter McCutcheon from the talent-laden Louisville, Kentucky prep ranks.  EMCC also welcomes newcomers Nick Walker and Chris Lewis, who were prep teammates at Hattiesburg High School, along with guards Makeem Roberts (Meridian) and Kevin Henry (Center Hill HS).          

Guided by 16^th-year head women's coach Sharon Thompson, who also serves as the school's athletics director, the EMCC Lady Lions will look to ride the momentum gained by claiming their first conference championship in 36 years with last year's 24-3 overall record and unbeaten (12-0) divisional mark.

The Lady Lions enter the 2021 basketball season touting one of the conference's best players in 6-foot-1 sophomore forward Ja'Mia Hollings (West Point), who earned all-region and all-conference honors a season ago.  Along with averaging a double-double as the team's leading scorer (14.0 ppg) and top rebounder (10.2 rpg) as a freshman, Hollings totaled 61 steals and 26 blocked shots while also shooting 61 percent from the field and 71 percent from the line in 2019-20.  

The EMCC women also feature returning forward Amiyah Staples (Riverside HS) as well as sophomore guards Tamara Alexander (Clinton HS) and Ciara Jackson (Shannon).

The new-look Lady Lions will also figure to rely heavily on eight newcomers, including six incoming transfers from other schools.  EMCC's pair of first-year prep products are forward Siarra Jackson, who was a two-time all-state selection at Ripley High School, and guard Shakira Wilson from Meridian's Southeast Lauderdale High School.

EMCC's three in-state transfers include 2018-19 Jackson Clarion-Ledger Dandy Dozen preseason pick Kyunna Thomas, a versatile 5-foot-11 swing player out of Lawrence County High School who transferred from Jones College.  Amaria Strong and Kayla Fisher, out of Class 6A prep powers Starkville and Terry, respectively, transferred to Scooba from MACCC member schools Coahoma and East Central.

In addition, the Lady Lions figure to receive immediate contributions from out-of-state transfer guards DenAsia Mitchell (College of Central Florida), Jenessa Souza (Blinn [TX] College by way of California) and Georgia native Markiema Lancaster (Mercer University).

East Mississippi's basketball teams are scheduled to continue MACCC North Division action next week with Thursday (Jan. 28) contests versus Itawamba Community College.  The Lady Lions are set to make their home debut with a 6 p.m. game against the ICC women in Scooba, while the Lions will travel to Fulton for a 5:30 p.m. meeting with the Indians at ICC's Davis Event Center.