Lady Lions cruise to 83-45 home victory over Mississippi Delta
Bouncing back from division setbacks earlier in the week, East Mississippi Community College’s basketball teams posted contrasting victories over Mississippi Delta during Thursday’s MACCC North Division play. The Lady Lions led from the opening tip-off to cruise to an 83-45 home victory in women’s action at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum, while the EMCC men pulled out a gutsy come-from-behind 77-72 road triumph over the Trojans.
SCOOBA — Bouncing back from division setbacks earlier in the week, East Mississippi Community College's basketball teams posted contrasting victories over Mississippi Delta during Thursday's MACCC North Division play. The Lady Lions led from the opening tip-off to cruise to an 83-45 home victory in women's action at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum, while the EMCC men pulled out a gutsy come-from-behind 77-72 road triumph over the Trojans.
The women's contest was never in doubt as the home-standing Lady Lions bolted to a 21-7 advantage by the end of the opening quarter. After scoring the first nine points of the second quarter, EMCC's comfortable margin increased to 27 points (40-13) by halftime.
A 3-pointer by transfer guard Jenessa Souza to open the second stanza stretched the difference to 30 points and set the stage for the highest scoring quarter of the game. The Lady Lions outscored Delta, 29-17, in the period.
After Siarra Jackson's basket to open the fourth-quarter scoring lengthened the lead to 41 points (71-30), the Lady Lions' cushion ballooned to 44 points (79-35) on Shakira Wilson's made trey.
Coach Sharon Thompson's 3-1 EMCC Lady Lions had three players with double-figure scoring totals and three with twin-digit rebounding numbers. Off the bench, sophomore guard Tamara Alexander scored a career-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. Souza followed with 13 points and six assists.
Reigning all-conference forward Ja'Mia Hollings registered her 17th career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the defending conference champions. Freshman Kyunna Thomas pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds along with adding eight points and three assists.
The Mississippi Delta women were paced by Antanisha Wade's game-high 18 points.
In men's action at Delta's J.T. Hall Coliseum, the home-standing Trojans opened up a nine-point lead (20-11) with an 8-1 run before EMCC freshman guard Hunter McCutcheon drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to three points midway through the half.
Delta responded by outscoring the visitors, 22-11, the remainder of the half to claim a 42-28 advantage by the intermission.
With the Trojans still holding a double-digit lead (48-36) three minutes into the second stanza, the Lions scored eight unanswered points, including three-point plays by Nick Walker and Traemond Pittman, to trim the margin to four points with 14:01 left in the contest.
Later in the half, Delta pushed the lead back up to nine points (59-50) before McCutcheon again provided a spark for the Lions by hitting a floater and knocking down his fourth 3-pointer of the game to close the gap to four points once again.
Down the stretch with two of Delta's starters – Chavis Banks and Morgan Green – having fouled out, the Lions took advantage by scoring six straight points to briefly move ahead (69-67) for the first time in the game since owning a 2-0 lead.
After the Trojans reclaimed the lead (72-69) with just under two minutes remaining, they did not score again in the game. Meanwhile, freshman guard Blake Butler scored seven straight points for the Lions with a 3-pointer and four free throws to cap off his 22-point effort.
McCutcheon followed with 17 points, including 4-of-7 accuracy from three-point range, while Pittman added 13 points to help Coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions move to 4-3 overall and 4-2 in division play.
Banks led Mississippi Delta with 17 points before fouling out. Darien Wallace and Green followed with 11 and nine points, respectively, for the Trojans.
In the midst of a three-game road swing, the EMCC men will step out of division play to take on the Eagles of Meridian Community College Saturday afternoon in Meridian. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at MCC's Graham Gymnasium. The Lions and Lady Lions are then scheduled to resume MACCC North Division play on Monday evening (Feb. 15) against the Rangers of Northwest Mississippi. Women's action is set for Scooba and the men will meet in Senatobia with 6 p.m. tip-offs at both sites.