Second-half surge sparks Lady Lions to 62-55 home win over Copiah-Lincoln

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College posted a home basketball doubleheader sweep over Copiah-Lincoln during Thursday's MACCC hoops action played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum. After the EMCC women battled from behind to claim a 62-55 win over Co-Lin, the Lions completed the sweep with a 78-65 victory over the Wolves in the nightcap.

Playing without injured starters Je'Niecia Hill and Dukiaha Jones, the home-standing Lady Lions trailed Co-Lin at the quarter break (21-14) and at the half (36-27). After trailing by nine points at the intermission, the EMCC women went on an 11-1 run early in the second half that was sparked by a pair of three-pointers from sophomore point guard Kennedi McCray.

The Lady Wolves briefly reclaimed the advantage at the end of the third quarter when Cookie Wilkinson followed her two made free throws with a buzzer-beating drive to the basket to give the visitors a 44-41 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

 EMCC outscored Co-Lin, 21-11, during the fourth quarter, as the inside-outside combination of post player Leah Wilcher and shooting guard Micaiah Satcher led the way. Wilcher scored the first three baskets of the quarter, while Satcher followed with a pair of three-pointers to help stake the Lady Lions to a 57-48 lead late in the contest.

After the Lady Wolves cut the deficit to six points (57-51) on Kamaiyah Pruitt's trey, EMCC locked down its first conference win of the season with five made free throws over the game's final minute.

Head coach Isaiah Butler's EMCC Lady Lions (6-9, 1-2 MACCC) were led by McCray's career-high-tying 19 points (13 after halftime), including 4-of-6 accuracy from behind the three-point arc. Satcher and Wilcher both approached double-doubles in the contest with 13 points/nine rebounds and nine points/14 rebounds, respectively. Both players scored eight second-half points apiece, while all but one of Wilcher's career-best 14 boards came during the second half.

Wilkinson tallied a game-high 22 points for Copiah-Lincoln (11-7, 1-2 MACCC).

With their second straight conference win after snapping a seven-game losing skid a week ago, the EMCC men trailed Copiah-Lincoln for much of the opening half. Six combined made free throws between Jonathan Baker and DeAndre Lewis over the final minute of play erased a five-point deficit and gave the home team a one-point (28-27) halftime edge.

The Lions quickly extended the narrow lead to double digits by drilling five three-pointers – two each by DeAndre Lewis and Jermaurhiyun Anderson - during the first eight minutes of the second stanza. Josh Brown's triple and two made free throws pushed EMCC's advantage to 14 points (49-35) midway through the half.

The Wolves did manage to trim the margin to seven points (53-46) with seven minutes remaining, but Baker's three-pointer and another trey by Brown bumped EMCC's lead back up to double figures.

Head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions (8-10, 2-1 MACCC) were paced by a trio of double-digit scorers, led by DeAndre Lewis' game-high 21 points. Anderson and Baker followed with 17 and 16 points, respectively, for the winners.

Deven Bates led the Co-Lin men (8-7, 0-3 MACCC) with 19 points.

East Mississippi's basketball teams will be back in game action for the second time in three days when they travel to Summit to take on the Bears of Southwest Mississippi on Saturday evening. Postponed from earlier in the week due to wintry weather along Mississippi's Gulf Coast, Saturday's EMCC-SMCC hoops doubleheader will feature a 5 p.m. women's game followed by a 7 p.m. men's contest.