Lady Lions fall 67-50 to No. 21 Shelton State in rematch

SCOOBA – The East Mississippi Community College women's basketball team battled No. 21 Shelton State to a 27-27 halftime deadlock before being outscored, 40-23, during the second half on the way to dropping a 67-50 decision during Monday's doubleheader hoops action played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.

In men's nightcap action, the EMCC Lions avenged an earlier loss at Shelton State three weeks ago by claiming a hard-fought 69-64 home victory over the visiting Bucs..

Last month (Nov. 13) in Tuscaloosa, East Mississippi was swept on the road by Shelton State with a 92-71 setback in women's action followed by an 85-69 loss in the men's nightcap.

Despite a 6-0 start by the visiting Lady Bucs, the women's game remained close throughout the opening 20 minutes of play. After Shelton State mounted a 25-18 advantage, the Lady Lions converted consecutive steals into points and then knotted the score at 27-27 on Kylah Bell's banked three-pointer at the halftime buzzer.

The second stanza was a different story, however, as the Lady Bucs opened up a 20-point (60-40) margin midway through the half on Alanah Pooler's three-pointer. Shelton State maintained at least a 15-point lead for the remainder of the contest.  

For EMCC, freshman guard Kiara Howard came off the bench to score a season-high 19 points. Nakeria Scales added seven points and eight rebounds for the Lady Lions.

Shelton State was powered by Julie Nekolna's double-double performance of 16 points and 16 rebounds. Pooler also had 16 points, while Carleigh Andrews added 11 points for the Lady Bucs.

Monday's men's rematch in Scooba began much the same way as before with the Bucs taking an early 18-8 advantage. The visitors remained on top by nine points (23-14) midway through the first half before Johnny Taylor Jr. provided a spark off the bench for the home-standing Lions. The Chattanooga transfer scored 11 first-half points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field to help pull EMCC to within a basket (39-37) by halftime.

The second stanza stayed to within a five-point margin throughout the entire 20 minutes of play while featuring eight ties and seven lead changes. EMCC broke the final tie of the half on Andrew Mason's put-back basket of his own miss that put the Lions on top, 66-64, with just under two minutes remaining in the contest.

After the teams exchanged a pair of empty possessions down the stretch, Mason split a pair of free throws with 15.9 seconds left to make it a three-point game. Following a missed three-pointer by Shelton State's Jordan Brown that could have tied the game, EMCC's Nick Walker was fouled on the rebound and drilled both free throws to nail down the victory.

Mason and Tremaine Dixon Jr. led the way for the Lions with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Both players scored in double figures during the second half. Taylor finished with 13 points, while Walker just missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

Brown paced Shelton State with 17 points, followed by MJ Jones and Jordan Mitchell with 14 points apiece.

The East Mississippi basketball teams are set to continue their two-week basketball home stand by playing host to Jones College on Thursday (Dec. 7). A 5:30 p.m. women's game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at Currie Coliseum. EMCC's pre-Christmas hoops home stand will conclude with Monday's (Dec. 11) twin bill against Meridian Community College. Special tip-off times are set for 1 and 3 p.m. on the Scooba campus.