Lady Lions drop season opener to preseason No. 2 Shelton State

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College tipped off the 2022-23 basketball season with a Tuesday home doubleheader split against Shelton State Community College. The Lions claimed a convincing 87-65 win over the visiting Buccaneers in the men's nightcap, while the preseason second-ranked Lady Bucs posted a commanding 65-34 victory over the Lady Lions in the opener.

In the women's opener, the home-standing Lady Lions spotted Shelton State 15 points before the home team got on the board midway through the opening quarter on Sadie Williams' basket.

After trailing the Lady Bucs, 28-10, following the first 10 minutes of play, EMCC got as close as 14 points (30-16) by opening the second quarter with a 6-2 spurt. However, 14 first-half turnovers greatly contributed to the Lady Lions' 44-22 halftime deficit.

EMCC's shooting woes continued into the second half, while Shelton State solidly maintained its advantage on the offensive boards. The Lady Lions struggled with 15-of-50 (30%) field goal shooting, including 0-of-8 from beyond the arc, during the contest. Though the visitors connected on only 19 percent (3-of-16) of their three-pointers for the game, the Lady Bucs benefitted from a 44-32 rebounding margin, including a 17-9 difference on the offensive glass.

The EMCC-SSCC women's game featured balanced scoring from both teams, as Shelton State had nine different players score in the contest and the Lady Lions put eight players in the scoring column. The Lady Bucs' tandem of Nya Valentine and Asia Barclay led all scorers with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Off the bench, Hannah McDougle and Gabby Collier led EMCC with six and five points, respectively.

First-year head women's coach Isaiah Butler's EMCC Lady Lions will play host to MACCC foe Coahoma Community College on Thursday (Nov. 10) in a 6 p.m. non-conference contest at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus. Butler spent the previous four seasons as Coahoma's associate head women's basketball coach prior to becoming EMCC's head women's coach this past April.

In the men's contest, EMCC used the three-point shot to turn an early 6-2 deficit into a 20-point lead midway through the opening half by scoring 24 unanswered points. Made three-pointers by Kevin Henry and Blake Butler ignited the game-changing run that also featured nine consecutive points scored by freshman guard Andrew Mason. The Kentucky native followed a three-point play with back-to-back made treys on his way to a team-high, 16-point night.

With the aid of 10 first-half made three-pointers, the Lions went up by as many as 28 points a couple of times during the opening half en route to mounting a 48-22 halftime lead.

EMCC's margin grew to 30 points (55-25) early in the second stanza on a jumper by freshman point guard Tremaine Dixon Jr. Later in the second half, a 7-0 mini-run was capped by Mason putting back his own missed shot to give the Lions a game-best, 34-point advantage (74-40) with around eight minutes remaining.

After Ashten Michael's trio of late-game treys helped make it a 33-point margin (85-52), the visiting Bucs managed to score the game's last 10 points to cut the final margin to 22 points.

Seven different EMCC players connected from three-point range on the night.  The Lions' 14 made treys in 32 attempts (44%) were the most in a single game for the program since nailing 17 three-pointers against Spring Hill College JV during the 2015-16 season.

Along with Mason's 16 points on 6-of-10 field goal shooting, fellow EMCC freshman Terrell Dixon followed with 15 points also on 6-of-10 accuracy from the field. Another freshman, Ashten Michael, drilled 4-of-6 from three-point range for his 12 points, while Butler, a reigning All-Region 23 guard for the Lions, also added a dozen points for the winners along with five rebounds and three assists.

Jamarion Ryans and Jordan Mitchell led the Shelton State men with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Coach Billy Begley's 1-0 EMCC Lions will hit the road to play three games in as many days, Nov. 4-6, at the Griffin Elite 2022 Prep/JUCO Classic in Erlanger, Kentucky. After opening up tournament play Friday (6 p.m. CT) against Oakland (MI) Community College, East Mississippi will finish out the weekend taking on Lincoln Trail (IL) College on Saturday (3 p.m. CT) and Miami Dade College on Sunday (11:30 a.m. CT).