East Mississippi swept on the road by hoops rival East Central, 89-61 in women's opener and 99-88 in men's nightcap
The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams were swept Thursday night on the road by rival East Central Community College. The home-standing Lady Warriors cruised to their third victory in as many outings with an 89-61 win in the opener, while the preseason 24th-ranked Lions surrendered an 11-point halftime lead in falling to the East Central men, 99-88, during the nightcap at ECCC's Brackeen-Wood Physical Education Building.
DECATUR – The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams were swept Thursday night on the road by rival East Central Community College. The home-standing Lady Warriors cruised to their third victory in as many outings with an 89-61 win in the opener, while the preseason 24th-ranked Lions surrendered an 11-point halftime lead in falling to the East Central men, 99-88, during the nightcap at ECCC's Brackeen-Wood Physical Education Building.
In the women's contest, the visitors were slowed by 26 first-half turnovers that played a major role in the Lady Lions trailing by 26 points (45-19) at the half. East Central's cushion ballooned to a game-most 35 points (77-42) with around seven minutes remaining en route to the final 28-point outcome.
Saddled with 38 total turnovers for the contest, head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions evened their record to 2-2 on the year. Freshman Ki-Ki Patterson, a former Parade All-American at Columbus High School, posted her third 20-point outing in four games this season with a game-high 22 points. Annessia Durham and Kemper County High School product Robyn Rush added nine and eight points, respectively, for East Mississippi.
Improving to 3-0 on the season, the ECCC Lady Warriors had four players in double figures with Tynika Bender and Samantha Duncan leading the way with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
The EMCC women will hit the road next week for a Monday contest against preseason 17th-ranked Shelton State CC in Tuscaloosa before taking on Jones County JC Thursday in Ellisville.
During Thursday's rivalry nightcap, the visiting Lions overcame an early 6-0 deficit in front of a raucous home crowd to take a double-figure lead midway through the opening half. Bolstered by collective 8-of-9 first-half shooting off the bench by freshmen Daniel Simmons of Biggersville and Starkville's Dontavius Self, EMCC held a solid 50-39 advantage at the intermission.
With continued red-hot perimeter shooting from sophomore guard Antonio Finley following the break, the Lions maintained their twin-digit lead (75-65) midway through the second stanza. That's when East Central's Prince McDaniel keyed a game-changing 16-0 run that culminated with the Pascagoula product scoring on a drive to the basket and benefitting from an intention foul call resulting in two additional free throws.
After Self broke EMCC's scoring drought with a bucket to make it 81-77 in favor of the home team with seven minutes remaining, the Warriors then scored nine unanswered points to build a double-digit margin they would not relinquish for the final 4:34 of the contest.
Falling for the first time in three tries on the young season, head coach Mark White's EMCC Lions also had their 13-game series winning streak against East Central snapped with the 11-point setback. Finley, from Meridian, and Simmons led all scorers with 23 and 20 points, respectively, for the visitors.
Moving to 3-0 for the year, the ECCC Warriors featured balanced scoring with five players in double figures. McDaniel and Ravion Henry led the way with 16 points apiece followed by Quinton Campbell with 15 points.
The East Mississippi men are away from competition until Tuesday, Dec. 2, when they will play host to Alabama Southern CC in a 7:30 p.m. nightcap of a home doubleheader to be played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.