Lady Lions hold on for 52-51 win at East Central to notch fourth conference victory
The Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College collected their fourth conference win of the season by holding on for a 52-51 road victory over East Central during Thursday’s MACCC basketball action played at Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium. In men’s action, the visiting EMCC Lions came up just short of reaching the same mark by dropping a hard-fought 56-52 decision to the Warriors during the nightcap.
DECATUR – The Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College collected their fourth conference win of the season by holding on for a 52-51 road victory over East Central during Thursday's MACCC basketball action played at Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium. In men's action, the visiting EMCC Lions came up just short of reaching the same mark by dropping a hard-fought 56-52 decision to the Warriors during the nightcap.
In the women's opener, EMCC and ECCC traded early runs that ultimately led to a 23-23 deadlock heading into halftime. After the home-standing Lady Warriors grabbed their biggest lead of the game (18-11) at the 7:23 mark of the second quarter with an 11-0 run, the Lady Lions responded with eight unanswered points of their own to take a slim 19-18 lead with just under three minutes left in the opening half.
East Central came out of the halftime break to score the first five points of the second half before the visitors countered with six straight points to move ahead 31-28 on Dukiaha Jones' basket following a steal. The Lady Warriors later reclaimed the advantage (36-34) on Ruby Brannon's 3-pointer with 3:23 left in the third quarter and maintained the lead until early in the fourth quarter.
Following a pair of ties to begin the final 10 minutes of play, Kennedi Wagner's clutch trey gave the Lady Lions the lead (48-45) for good. East Central was able to trim the slight margin to a single point on three different occasions coming down the stretch.
After Shalea Boddie went 1-for-2 from the line to put the visitors ahead by two points (52-50) with a minute remaining, ECCC's Mikayla Holifield had a chance to tie the game at the charity stripe with 10.3 seconds left. She split the pair of free throws, but the Lady Warriors would get one last opportunity when EMCC was whistled for an offensive foul on an inbounds play with just 8.6 ticks remaining. On the game's final play, ECCC's LaPrincess Powell misfired at the final buzzer to seal the outcome.
In snapping their three-game losing skid, the Lady Lions improved to 9-14 overall and 4-7 in conference play. Jones led the way for EMCC by scoring a season-high 21 points to go along with her eight rebounds and five steals. Boddie registered a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Wagner added 10 points off the bench in the winning effort.
The men's nightcap proved to be just as nip and tuck as the women's contest. The home-standing Warriors held the advantage for most of the opening half, grabbing a 28-23 halftime advantage.
EMCC's Jermaurhiyun Anderson quickly tied the contest following intermission with a put-back basket and a 3-pointer coming out of the break. The Warriors responded by scoring the next seven points to move back in front.
The final 10 minutes of the second stanza featured six lead changes and four deadlocks, as Anderson and DeAndre Lewis both drilled timely treys during a two-minute stretch that briefly gave back the lead to EMCC.
With around four minutes left to play and the Lions leading 49-46, Amare Holmes scored six straight points for his team during a critical 6-1 spurt for the Warriors. Holmes' second basket during the stretch put ECCC on top 52-50 with 1:13 left, while Anderson's answer tied the game for the last time with 47.5 seconds remaining on the game clock.
ECCC's Connor Rogers broke the final tie by sinking a pair of clutch free throws with 25.7 seconds left in regulation. Following a timeout, East Central's DeAnthony Lewis, the older brother of EMCC freshman DeAndre Lewis, stepped in front of a pass for the steal and subsequent breakaway basket to seal the victory for the Warriors.
Falling to 9-17 overall and 3-8 in MACCC action with their sixth straight setback in the month of February, EMCC's Lions were led by Anderson's 24 points – his fifth 20-point effort of his freshman season. DeAndre Lewis followed with 13 points and eight rebounds.
East Mississippi's basketball teams will return home to the Scooba campus to play host to the Hinds Bulldogs on Monday (Feb. 24). A 5:30 p.m. women's game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.