EMCC Lady Lions fall just short in upset bid of No. 23 East Central in MACJC Basketball Tournament quarterfinals

FULTON – The fourth-seeded Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College battled 23^rd-ranked East Central Community College to the final buzzer but fell just short in dropping a hard-fought 72-68 decision to the top-seeded Lady Warriors in Tuesday's quarterfinal-round women's action of the MACJC State Basketball Tournament being played at the Davis Event Center on the Itawamba Community College campus.

Despite losing six of their last seven regular-season contests, the Lady Lions made the most of their fresh start within postseason play by challenging MACJC South regular-season champion East Central down to the wire.  The 13-9 Lady Lions held the lead entering the final quarter, but the 22-2 Lady Warriors took care of business down the stretch to extend their winning streak to 17 consecutive games while advancing to Wednesday's semifinals against Copiah-Lincoln.

Clicking on all cylinders offensively in the opening half, the EMCC women took an early 14-9 lead in the first quarter.  After East Central reclaimed the advantage for most of the second quarter, the Lady Lions scored the last nine points of the half to take a 34-28 lead at the break on T.J. Harper's buzzer-beating 3-pointer. 

As a team through the opening 20 minutes of play, EMCC shot 56 percent from the field (15-27 FGs) while limiting East Central to just 26 percent (10-38 FGs) shooting.  The Lady Lions also held a commanding 27-15 rebounding advantage at the half but were slowed by 14 turnovers.

Following a third quarter that featured five lead changes, the Lady Lions went to the final period owning a slim 53-51 lead.  However, as the fourth quarter got underway, Camry Jones, EMCC's primary distributor with four first-half assists, picked up her fourth foul.  Without her on the floor, the Lady Lions' offense seemed a bit out of sync, and East Central in turn seemed to gain some needed confidence on both ends of the floor.  As a result, the Lady Warriors took the lead for good early in the quarter and slowly added to their margin.

Just when it appeared that East Central's eight-point (70-62) lead with 18.7 seconds remaining was more than enough, the Lady Lions made a furious comeback attempt during the waning seconds.  First, EMCC freshman sensation Quantesha Patterson was fouled on a made basket and her missed free throw try was rebounded and converted by teammate Tianna Germain to cut the deficit in half.  After ECCC's Samantha Duncan missed a pair of free throws with 12.6 ticks left, Ki-Ki Patterson converted on the other end with a pull-up jumper to pull the Lady Lions to within two points (70-68) in the blink of an eye.  The upset, however, was not in the cards for EMCC on this day as Duncan was again sent to the free throw line with 4.2 seconds left after getting fouled on the subsequent inbounds attempt.  East Central's southpaw standout capped her game-high, 25-point outing by hitting both charity tosses to account for the final four-point outcome.

With four players scoring in double figures, East Central also received 15 points from Alexia McDonald, while Kalybriah Haskin and Miracle Rushing added 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the winners.

Coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions were once again powered by the Patterson tandem as Quantesha and Ki-Ki combined for 46 points on 21-of-30 accuracy from the field.  Quantesha, a member of East Webster's state championship squad a year ago, registered her 13^th double-double of the year with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go along with her season high-tying 15 rebounds.  Ki-Ki, the former prep All-American from Columbus High School, followed closely with 22 points on 11-of-16 from the field in addition to pulling down eight rebounds.

Before fouling out with 3:19 left in the contest, EMCC's Jones, from Nettleton High School, enjoyed a stellar all-around performance by totaling eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two steals.  

For the game, the Lady Lions out-shot East Central from the field (53% to 35%) while finishing with a decisive 49-28 advantage on the boards.  Not in their favor, though, were a 24-5 discrepancy in turnovers and a 32-13 difference in free throws attempted.

The East Mississippi women now await the release of next week's eight-team NJCAA Region 23 Tournament field to see if their 2015-16 basketball campaign will continue.  The upcoming four-day region tournament will take place next Wednesday-Saturday (March 2-5) at Mississippi College's A.E. Wood Coliseum in Clinton.