EMCC Lady Lions bow out of MACCC tourney semis with 57-39 loss to Coahoma

POPLARVILLE — East Mississippi Community College's bid for a second straight MACCC Women's Basketball Tournament championship game appearance came to a halt with a 57-39 loss to third-seeded Coahoma during Wednesday's semifinals of this year's conference tournament being played at Marvin R. White Coliseum on the Pearl River Community College campus.

 The seventh-seeded EMCC Lady Lions, winners of the 2020 conference tournament played in Scooba, reached this week's semifinals with Monday's 61-54 quarterfinal-round victory over No. 2 seed Southwest Mississippi. The MACCC Basketball Tournament was not held last year after conference scheduling adjustments were made during the course of the coronavirus pandemic.

With the exception of a 2-2 tie, EMCC held the advantage for the majority of the first quarter and led Coahoma, 12-6, at the end of the opening 10 minutes of play.

The momentum seemed to turn temporarily when EMCC freshman point guard DJ Williams was whistled for her second personal foul early in the second quarter. The Lady Tigers took advantage of her absence from the lineup by scoring eight unanswered points to take the lead. Coahoma led by four points on a couple of occasions during the second quarter, before Kyunna Thomas knocked down a buzzer-beating three-pointer to pull the Lady Lions to within a point (22-21) by the intermission.

EMCC carried the momentum into the early portion of the second half with an 8-2 run to start the third quarter. Two baskets apiece by Thomas and Siarra Jackson gave the Lady Lions a 29-24 lead two minutes into the half. Following those four early buckets, however, EMCC was only able to manage one more made field goal for the final 18 minutes of the game.

That's when Coahoma began to take control of the contest by scoring 17 unanswered points to move ahead, 46-31, by the end of the third quarter. The Lady Tigers outscored EMCC, 24-10, during the period. 

Coahoma maintained its comfortable double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game, extending the margin to as many as 21 points (55-34) before settling for the 18-point victory.

EMCC was led by Siarra Jackson's fourth double-double effort in her last seven outings with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Thomas and Markiema Lancaster followed with nine and eight points, respectively.

Improving to 19-5 overall, Coahoma received 11 points and 15 rebounds from Nakia Cheatham. Elishia Wilson also netted 11 points for the Lady Tigers.

Coach Sharon Thompson's 12-12 EMCC women's team will now await the announcement of the upcoming seedings for next week's NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament. Like last year, all 19 schools representing the states of Mississippi and Louisiana will participate in next week's regional tournament. With three play-in games slated for Saturday (Feb. 26) at on-campus sites of higher seeded teams, the quarterfinal-round games will also be held at on-campus sites of higher seeded teams Monday and Tuesday. Regional tournament action then shifts to the Mississippi College campus in Clinton, where semifinal-round games will be played Thursday and Friday in advance of Saturday's championship contests at MC's A.E. Wood Coliseum.