EMCC women drop tough-luck 60-59 first-round decision to Co-Lin in MACJC State Basketball Tournament

ELLISVILLE – The East Mississippi Community College women's basketball team dropped a tough-luck 60-59 decision to Copiah-Lincoln Community College during Monday's opening round of the MACJC State Basketball Tournament.  The four-day tournament is being hosted by Jones County Junior College at A.B. Howard Gymnasium.

Needing a first-round win over No. 2 MACJC South seed Co-Lin to help solidify a spot in next week's NJCAA Region 23 Tournament in Clinton, Coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lions currently own a 12-10 overall record while finishing third in the MACJC's North Division standings with a 7-5 regular-season mark.

Monday's opening-round women's tournament action featured all four MACJC South teams prevailing.  Fourth-seeded Southwest Mississippi upset MACJC North champion Itawamba (60-52), while host and MACJC South champion Jones County easily defeated Holmes (70-50) and third-seeded Hinds knocked off MACJC North runner-up Northeast Mississippi in overtime (78-67) during Monday's nightcap.  Men's opening-round tournament action took place Tuesday in Ellisville.

After scoring the first six points of Monday's second women's tournament contest, EMCC continued to hold a 12-9 advantage over Copiah-Lincoln at the end of the first quarter.  Aided by the Lady Wolves shooting just 25 percent from the field during the game's first 20 minutes, the Lions scored the last six points of the half as well to take a 26-20 halftime lead.

Following intermission, Co-Lin caught fire from the perimeter by hitting 6-of-9 shots from three-point range during the third quarter.  Despite the hot shooting and with EMCC scoring leader Tyeisha Juhan saddled with three fouls, the Lions were able to weather the storm.   After the Lady Wolves went up by six points (42-36), Lion sophomore Anissia May countered with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit in half heading to the final period.

Copiah-Lincoln continued to build a lead during the early portion of the fourth quarter, as Alexus Holt put the Lady Wolves ahead by eight points on two different occasions within a three-minute span by hitting timely 3-pointers.  Both times, however, the Lions countered with key buckets to halt potential game-deciding runs by Co-Lin. 

Ignited by Juhan's 3-pointer at the 3:07 mark, EMCC scored seven unanswered points late in the contest to briefly reclaim the lead.  After Quantesha Patterson put back her own miss, the Lions then regained possession on a loose ball tie-up that resulted in Juhan getting to the rim for a go-ahead basket (59-58) with 1:18 remaining in the contest.

Both teams missed scoring opportunities down the stretch before it was Co-Lin's turn to take advantage of the next tie-up situation.  After gaining possession, Tenazhia Hinkston was sent to the line with 8.8 seconds left and promptly sank both free throws to put the Lady Wolves back on top.  Following timeouts by both teams, Co-Lin, with a foul to give, fouled on the floor with 5.7 ticks remaining.  The Lady Wolves then clamped down on defense and prevented EMCC from getting off a shot during the game's final frantic moments.

For the game, Co-Lin outrebounded EMCC, 41-29, while shooting 83 percent from the line.  The Lady Wolves made 15-of-18 free throws in contrast to just 7-of-15 (47%) shooting from the charity stripe for the Lions.

Juhan led all scorers with a game-high 23 points, while Patterson matched last year's personal total with her 13^th double-double of the season by finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds.  May also reached double digits with 11 points on a trio of second-half 3-pointers.

Improving to 20-3 on the season and advancing to Wednesday's tournament semifinals against Southwest Mississippi, the Co-Lin Lady Wolves were led by Brittany Rose's 18 points, including 5-of-7 accuracy from beyond the three-point arc.  Holt followed with a dozen points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting.