EMCC basketball teams set to host NJCAA Region 23 Tournament games
In securing No. 6 regional seeds with third-place MACCC North Division regular-season finishes, the East Mississippi Community College basketball teams are set to begin competition by hosting second-round games during this week’s NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament action.
SCOOBA — In securing No. 6 regional seeds with third-place MACCC North Division regular-season finishes, the East Mississippi Community College basketball teams are set to begin competition by hosting second-round games during this week's NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament action.
Following first-round byes, the EMCC women will play host to 11th-seeded Copiah-Lincoln (5-8) on Wednesday (March 31), while the EMCC men will entertain No. 11 seed Southwest Mississippi (6-8, 7-9 overall) on Thursday (April 1). Both second-round tournament contests are set to tip off at 6 p.m. at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.
Coach Sharon Thompson's reigning conference champion EMCC Lady Lions enter postseason tournament competition with a 10-4 record both overall and in division play. They have won six of their last seven decisions, including a four-game winning streak before dropping a 51-50 home decision to MACCC North Division co-champion Itawamba back on March 20. The Lady Lions closed out the regular season with a commanding 81-39 home triumph over Northwest Mississippi last Wednesday (March 24).
Coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions posted an 11-5 overall record and 9-4 division mark during regular-season play. They will begin regional action having won eight of their last 10 contests, including a pair of four-game win streaks. The Lions concluded the regular season by dropping a 73-62 home decision to Holmes on March 22.
Because of their division-only schedule, the EMCC women did not meet the Co-Lin Lady Wolves during the 2021 regular season.
Along with playing their MACCC North Division slate, the Lions split a pair of inter-division February decisions with Southwest Mississippi and posted an 87-70 road win over Meridian. During their regular-season split with Southwest, the EMCC men avenged a 90-83 home overtime loss to the Bears (Feb. 6) by claiming a narrow 76-75 road win over SMCC three weeks later (Feb. 27) in Summit.
Following this week's opening rounds, tournament action will continue at on-campus sites of higher seeded teams with the Region 23 quarterfinals set for April 5-6 (women on Monday and men on Tuesday). The tournament semifinals (April 7-8) and championship contests (April 9) will then be played at Mississippi College in Clinton.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MACCC is not playing its annual basketball conference tournaments this year. Instead, the MACCC North Division and MACCC South Division regular-season champions have been declared co-conference champions for 2021. In response to the pandemic, divisional winners were named using a formula consisting of 80 percent of a team's winning percentage and 20 percent of a team's total number of games played.
In women's action, Coahoma and Itawamba shared the MACCC North Division title, while top-ranked Jones went undefeated in the MACCC South. In men's play, Northeast Mississippi edged Holmes to claim the MACCC North crown, while ninth-ranked Pearl River won the MACCC South title.
2021 NJCAA Region 23 Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket
2021 NJCAA Region 23 Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket
2021 NJCAA Region 23 Women's Basketball Tournament
First Round (Monday, March 29)
(17) Hinds at (16) Mississippi Delta
(18) Southern-Shreveport at (15) Baton Rouge
(19) Northeast Mississippi at (14) Northwest Mississippi
Second Round (Wednesday, March 31)
Delta/Hinds winner at (1) Jones
(9) Delgado at (8) Pearl River
(13) East Central at (4) Meridian
(12) Mississippi Gulf Coast at (5) LSU Eunice
BRCC/Shreveport winner at (2) Coahoma
(10) Holmes at (7) Southwest Mississippi
Northwest/Northeast winner at (3) Itawamba
(11) Copiah-Lincoln at (6) East Mississippi
Quarterfinals (Monday, April 5) – at on-campus sites
Semifinals (Wednesday, April 7) – at Clinton, MS (Mississippi College)
Championship Game (Friday, April 9) – at Clinton, MS (Mississippi College)
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2021 NJCAA Region 23 Men's Basketball Tournament
First Round (Tuesday, March 30)
(17) Mississippi Delta at (16) Coahoma
(18) Baton Rouge at (15) Copiah-Lincoln
(19) Southern-Shreveport at (14) East Central
Second Round (Thursday, April 1)
Coahoma/Delta winner at (1) Pearl River
(9) Northwest at (8) Jones
(13) Itawamba at (4) LSU Eunice
(12) Mississippi Gulf Coast at (5) Holmes
Co-Lin/BRCC winner at (2) Northeast Mississippi
(10) Delgado at (7) Meridian
ECCC/Shreveport winner at (3) Hinds
(11) Southwest Mississippi at (6) East Mississippi
Quarterfinals (Tuesday, April 6) – at on-campus sites
Semifinals (Thursday, April 8) – at Clinton, MS (Mississippi College)
Championship Game (Friday, April 9) – at Clinton, MS (Mississippi College)