Unbeaten and host Co-Lin ends Lady Lions' season with 71-48 first-round decision in MACJC Basketball Tournament

WESSON – East Mississippi Community College's women's basketball season came to an end Monday night, as the Lady Lions dropped a 71-48 decision to the unbeaten and host Lady Wolves of Copiah-Lincoln Community College during opening-round action of the MACJC State Basketball Tournament being held at Co-Lin's Mullen Gym.

Having closed out regular-season play last week with victories over Holmes and Northwest Mississippi, head coach Sharon Thompson's fourth-seeded EMCC Lady Lions conclude the campaign with a 12-12 overall record after posting a 7-5 division mark.

Against the 20^th-ranked and MACJC South Champion Co-Lin Lady Wolves to begin postseason action, EMCC's women battled through three early ties and trailed by only three points (17-14) midway through the opening half of play.  While connecting on six first-half 3-pointers, Copiah-Lincoln utilized a 15-6 spurt to close the half and mount a 36-22 halftime advantage.

With Alexis Collins scoring back-to-back baskets coming out of the intermission and Tyra Gibson hitting a trio of 3-pointers during the early stages of the second stanza, Co-Lin's lead quickly grew to 20 points (46-26) three minutes into the half.  The margin increased to as many as 27 points on three different occasions, as the Lady Lions were limited to just eight second-half field goals.

For the game, EMCC totaled as many made field goals (18) as turnovers while being held to 38-percent shooting from the field.

In their regular-season finale, the Lady Lions were led by Raymond High School product Annessia Durham with 13 points off the East Mississippi bench.  Former Columbus High School All-American Ki-Ki Patterson and Germantown High School's T.J. Harper followed with eight points apiece.

For the 24-0 and home-standing Co-Lin Lady Wolves, Collins scored a game-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-6 accuracy from beyond the three-point arc.  Kelley Allen and Gibson added 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the winners.    

Opening-day women's action of this week's MACJC State Basketball Tournament saw a South Division sweep over their North Division counterparts.  Along with Co-Lin's 23-point victory against EMCC and third-seeded Jones County's 91-71 win over No. 2 seed Northwest Mississippi during Monday's nightcap, fourth-seeded Meridian CC knocked off the MACJC North Champion Lady Indians of Itawamba, 76-74, and No. 2 seed East Central disposed of third-seeded Holmes, 90-69.

First-round men's tournament play takes place Tuesday in Wesson, followed by scheduled semifinal-round men's and women's action on Wednesday and the respective tournament championship contests on Thursday.