EMCC Lady Lions move over .500 mark with 70-61 home victory over Coastal Alabama-North
The East Mississippi Community College women’s basketball team improved to 3-2 on the year with a pair of wins over Alabama-based schools this past week. Thursday’s 70-61 home triumph over Coastal Alabama-North on the Scooba campus followed Monday’s 78-76 road win over Snead State in Boaz.
SCOOBA – The East Mississippi Community College women's basketball team improved to 3-2 on the year with a pair of wins over Alabama-based schools this past week. Thursday's 70-61 home triumph over Coastal Alabama-North on the Scooba campus followed Monday's 78-76 road win over Snead State in Boaz.
On Thursday at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum, the EMCC women scored the final eight points of the opening quarter against Coastal Alabama-North to take a 17-8 lead after 10 minutes. After out-scoring the Lady Eagles, 21-11, in the second quarter, the Lady Lions doubled up the visitors by extending the margin to 38-19 by halftime.
Coastal Alabama turned the tables coming out of the intermission by out-scoring EMCC by 10 points (28-18) during the third quarter to cut the deficit to single digits (56-47) heading into the final period. The Lady Eagles managed to pull to within eight points (60-52) four minutes into the fourth quarter before Maddie Riley's inside bucket was followed by three straight baskets from Aamiya Rush to put the Lady Lions back in control of the contest. The visitors scored the final seven points over the game's last two minutes to account for the final single-digit margin.
EMCC's victory completed its season sweep over Coastal Alabama after previously opening the campaign with a 57-47 road victory over the Lady Eagles in Monroeville.
EMCC freshman post player Maddie Riley led all scorers with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting and added eight rebounds. Returning after missing two games due to injury, sophomore Emily Evans followed with 11 points. Rush, a freshman out of West Point, finished with eight points and paced all rebounders with 11 boards.
Coastal Alabama's quartet of double-digit scorers was led by Marada Walker's 13 points.
Earlier in the week at Snead State, Rush and fellow EMCC freshman Tye Metcalf combined for 44 points to ignite the visitors to a 78-76 comeback win over the Lady Parsons. Rush came off the bench to score 24 points in addition to pulling down 10 rebounds and making four steals. Metcalf followed with 20 points and eight assists, while Riley notched her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 18 rebounds.
Coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions will venture to Tuscaloosa to take on preseason No. 6 and reigning NJCAA semifinalist Shelton State Community College on Monday evening. The men's/women's hoops doubleheader will tip off at 5:30 p.m. with women's action followed by the men's matchup. Both games are slated to be live-streamed at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live with Austin Buchanan calling the play-by-play action.