Lady Lions fall at division-leading Itawamba

FULTON — Coming off last week's layoff due to game postponements caused by wintry weather, East Mississippi Community College's basketball teams returned to action by splitting with Itawamba during Thursday's MACCC North Division hardwood action.  EMCC's Lions won their third straight game with a hard-fought 86-83 overtime home victory over the Indians at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum, while the Lady Lions dropped a 73-68 road decision to the ICC women at the Davis Event Center.

In women's action, the two teams battled through six first-quarter ties.  Following two more deadlocks, ICC's Demetria Shephard got hot with nine second-quarter points to help the home-standing Lady Indians build a seven-point lead (34-27) late in the half.

The Lady Lions responded by outscoring ICC, 13-4, over the final four minutes of the half, including Shakira Wilson's banked 3-pointer from midcourt at the buzzer that gave the visitors a 40-38 halftime advantage.

Following a closely contested third quarter that stayed within a four-point differential the entire 10 minutes, the Lady Indians maintained a narrow lead throughout the final period.  After ICC opened up a six-point lead (65-59) midway through the quarter, EMCC countered with six straight points to knot the score at 65-65 with three minutes remaining in the game.

Amelya Hatch then came up big for Itawamba with back-to-back buckets to give the home team some breathing room.  Shomaria Overton proceeded to seal the five-point win for the Lady Indians with four free throws over the game's final 10.5 seconds.

Coach Sharon Thompson's 3-2 EMCC Lady Lions were led by reigning all-conference performer Ja'Mia Hollings with 17 points (6-10 FGs) and eight rebounds.  Tamara Alexander followed with a dozen points off the bench, while Markiema Lancaster added 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

Shephard finished with a game-high 20 points, while Hatch followed with 11 points for the ICC women.

The EMCC women will return home to play host to the Lady Tigers of Northeast Mississippi on Monday evening.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.      

In the men's contest played in Scooba, the visiting Indians went on an early 12-2 run to take a 19-10 lead.  Seven straight points by EMCC, sparked by Hunter McCutcheon's back-to-back baskets, cut the deficit to two points midway through the opening half.

After Itawamba went back ahead by nine points (36-27) later in the half, Traemond Pittman then fueled a 9-2 EMCC run with three baskets over the final three minutes to trim ICC's lead back to a bucket (38-36) by the halftime break.

The Lions scored the first three points of the second stanza on free throws to grab their first advantage since leading 8-7 early in the contest.  After the two teams exchanged leads later in the half, McCutcheon again ignited an 8-0 EMCC spurt by knocking down consecutive 3-pointers to put the home team on top, 70-62, with six minutes remaining.

Itawamba responded with nine unanswered points – seven by Keyan Mims – to momentarily reclaim a single-point lead.  Tied at 72-72 with 1:23 left, TJ Wallace's trey for ICC with 30 seconds remaining was matched by Blake Butler's game-tying triple with just 4.7 ticks remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime.

The extra session featured three deadlocks before Hunter Stacy's 3-pointer gave the Indians an 83-80 lead with 1:33 left in the contest.  EMCC then kept ICC off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game, as Butler's game-deciding 3-pointer with 23.4 seconds left and subsequent free throws with just two ticks remaining ultimately sealed the Lions' eighth straight series win over Itawamba dating back to the 2017-18 season.

All five starters scored in double figures for Coach Billy Begley's 6-3 EMCC Lions, who also improved to 5-2 in MACCC North Division play.  The Louisville, Kentucky tandem of Butler and McCutcheon each tallied 20 points with four made 3-pointers apiece.  Pittman, from Meridian, followed with a career-high 18 points on 9-of-13 accuracy from the field, while reigning all-conference forward Jakorie Smith and Nick Walker added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the winners.

Itawamba also had five players score in double digits with Mims and Brandon Brown leading the way with 18 points apiece.  Wallace followed with 16 points, while Rod Jones and Walter Hamilton added 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the Indians.

The EMCC men will step outside division play for the final time this regular season by traveling to Summit to take on the Bears of Southwest Mississippi in a Saturday afternoon contest set for a 2 p.m. tip-off on the SMCC campus.  The Lions then return to division play Monday evening by taking on front-running Northeast Mississippi in Booneville.  Tip-off at NEMCC's Bonner Arnold Coliseum is set for 6 p.m.