EMCC Lady Lions earn a split at MGCCC-hosted Bulldog Thanksgiving Classic

PERKINSTON – East Mississippi Community College's Lady Lions headed into their Thanksgiving holiday break on a winning note after coming back from a 16-point deficit to post a 67-64 neutral-site win over Northeast Mississippi during Tuesday's women's basketball tournament action. Hosted by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, the two-day Bulldog Thanksgiving Classic was played at the brand-new Dantzler Arena.

Now 2-3 overall after splitting a pair of non-conference games against MACCC teams in Perkinston, the EMCC women opened tournament play Monday by dropping a 62-47 decision to the host MGCCC Lady Bulldogs.

While shooting just 10 percent from the field in the opening quarter of play, the Lady Lions spotted Northeast a 9-0 lead on the way to digging themselves a 20-4 hole following the first 10 minutes of play. Sparked off the bench by Gabby Collier, EMCC opened the second quarter outscoring the Lady Tigers, 18-5, to cut the deficit to three points (25-22) with two minutes left in the first half. Collier hit her first five shot attempts, including a pair of three-pointers, to score 12 of her game-high 15 points in the second quarter alone.

 After Northeast built its lead back up to nine points (31-22) at the start of the second half, the Lady Lions continued their comeback by scoring nine unanswered points to knot the score at 31-31 on a Sadie Williams jumper midway through the third quarter. EMCC then took its first lead (44-43) of the contest on a pair of DJ Williams' free throws with 22 seconds remaining in the quarter.

In scoring the first six points of the final quarter, the Lady Lions held the advantage for the opening eight minutes of the stanza until Northeast's Alexis Rowe tied the game at 58-58 with an inside basket at the 3:31 mark. DJ Williams' critical made three-pointer with 2:17 left in the contest was then followed by a pair of lead changes that put EMCC on top by a single point (63-62) heading into the final minute of play.

After the Lady Tigers couldn't take advantage of a couple of inside looks at the basket, EMCC's Sukkima Suell converted an offensive rebound to make it a three-point game. Taking advantage of a pair of costly turnovers by Northeast down the stretch, the Lady Lions received solo free throws from Sadie Williams and DJ Williams to account for the final three-point margin.

With the Lady Lions having outscored Northeast, 63-44, over the game's final three quarters, the winners were led by Collier and DJ Williams with 15 and 11 points, respectively. The Lady Tigers' quartet of double-digit scorers was paced by Miller and Ella Mask with 14 points apiece.

In the opening game of the two-day tournament that ushered in the Dantzler Arena era of MGCCC hoops, the home-standing Lady Bulldogs led EMCC for a majority of the contest. Gulf Coast built upon a 17-12 lead after the first quarter by taking a 34-21 halftime advantage. The Lady Lions fought back to outscore the tourney hosts, 17-9, in the third quarter to trim the deficit to just five points (43-38) heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

The Lady Bulldogs re-established control of the contest by opening the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run. They continued to maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the way en route to posting the 15-point victory over EMCC.

Suell paced EMCC with a dozen points on 4-of-5 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws along with grabbing seven rebounds, while Kennedi Jimison and DJ Williams followed with nine and eight points, respectively.

Gulf Coast featured a trio of double-figure scorers led by Simaru Fields' game-high 21 points. TK Catchings and Elsie Harris added 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the winners.

Coach Isaiah Butler's Lady Lions are scheduled to return to action the first week of December with road outings versus Pearl River (Dec. 5) and Shelton State (Dec. 12). They're then slated to close out the calendar year at the two-day (Dec. 30-31) Lake Charles (La.) New Year's Classic against Temple (Texas) College and LSU Eunice.