| Lions prevail at Co-Lin for second straight win; Lady Lions drop second consecutive decision |
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 Freshman guard Coco Ware of Starkville registered his third consecutive 20-point outing in the Lions’ 69-64 road win over Copiah-Lincoln Thursday. The 20th-ranked Lady Lions fell, 69-50, at Co-Lin for their second straight defeat after four consecutive wins to begin the year. Fresh from Monday’s impressive 86-55 home win over East Central, coach Mark White’s Lions evened their season’s record at 3-3 by holding on for a 69-64 victory over Co-Lin. Trailing 18-9 midway through the opening half, EMCC outscored the Wolves, 25-6, the remainder of the half to hold a 34-24 halftime lead. The visitors increased their cushion to 16 points several times during the second stanza, but were victimized by numerous turnovers in their halfcourt offense. The difference in the game was EMCC’s commanding 46-16 rebounding margin, including a 15-5 advantage on the offensive boards “Though I’m frustrated with our (29) turnovers, I’m proud of the way we gutted out this victory tonight on the road,” White admitted. “We could have easily folded down the stretch playing in this tough environment, but we toughed it out with our great presence on the boards and turned the game around with our press.” Coming off recent outings of 29 and 24 points, Starkville's Coco Ware notched his third straight 20-point effort with 23 points on 8-of-12 field-goal shooting. Along with hitting four clutch free throws over the final minute after Co-Lin had cut the deficit to three points, Ware also had five rebounds and four steals. Rob Elam followed with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and added nine boards, while Starkville's Woodie Howard notched a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Columbus’ Darian Donald contributed nine points and eight rebounds to the winning effort. For the second game in a row, coach Sharon Thompson’s 20th-ranked Lady Lions couldn’t recover from a sluggish start before falling by double figures. Playing without starting point guard Kottia White of Jackson, who sat out the Co-Lin contest after hurting her ankle during Wednesday’s practice, the EMCC women trailed 40-24 at the half to the undefeated Lady Wolves. For the game minus their veteran playmaker, East Mississippi shot just 34 percent (17-of-50 FGs) from the field, while Copiah-Lincoln connected on 28-of-66 field-goal attempts for 42 percent accuracy. Having opened the new season with four consecutive victories, including three straight road wins, the Lady Lions came into Thursday’s Co-Lin contest ranked 20th nationally in the season’s first NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Poll. “I don’t know if we were content in starting out the season 4-0, but for the second game in a row we did not come out mentally ready to play a basketball game,” Thompson said. “I’m sure a lot of our sluggishness tonight was caused by Kottia not being able to play because of her ankle injury.” Not managing a double-figure scorer in the contest, the Lady Lions received nine points from both Middle Tennessee State transfer Angelique Burtts and Jasmine Abrams of Columbus. Abrams added six rebounds, while former Southeast Lauderdale standout Martika Hull had seven points and five boards.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 21 November 2008 ) |
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