EMCC women fall 84-60 to Georgia Highlands in hoops season opener

SCOOBA – The East Mississippi Community College women's basketball team dropped an 84-60 home decision to Georgia Highlands College Thursday evening at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.

In their opener, head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions never owned a lead.  With the game tied at 13-13, the visiting Lady Chargers scored a dozen unanswered points to establish a double-digit margin.

After trailing 41-31 at the halftime break, the EMCC women cut the deficit to nine points a couple of times early in the second half.  Thwarting any possibility of a Lady Lion comeback, a 10-0 run by Georgia Highlands pushed the lead back up to 19 points (55-36) with 14 minutes remaining in the contest.

Freshmen Takera Mitchell, of Wayne County, and Charmane Tims, from Clarkdale High School, paced the Lady Lions with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Making their program debut, the GHC women featured very balanced scoring with five players reaching twin digits in the scoring column.  Gabrielle Kendall led the way with a game-high 18 points, followed by Seandre Lee and Amber Curtis with 17 and 15 points, respectively.

The EMCC Lady Lions hit the road to face San Jacinto College (Texas) in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.  Both East Mississippi basketball teams return home to entertain rival Meridian Community College on Thursday, Nov. 8.  Doubleheader hoops action tips off at 5:30 p.m. with the women's contest followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's game at EMCC's Currie Coliseum.