| EMCC basketball teams maintain win streaks with double-digit victories over Alabama schools |
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.jpg "Image") The EMCC basketball teams close out their pre-Christmas home slate by tipping off North Division play Monday night against Northwest Mississippi at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum. In their only competition against out-of-state opposition on the regular season, coach Sharon Thompson’s Lady Lions scored the game’s first nine points and held the visiting Lady Eagles to without a field goal until ASCC’s Tilya Raymond netted a basket at the 8:04 mark. Holding Alabama Southern to just four first-half field goals on 17 percent shooting, the EMCC women went up by 20 points (28-8) by the 4:45 mark and maintained the 20-point cushion (33-13) at halftime. The Lady Lions’ double-figure margin was never in jeopardy the remainder of the contest, though the visitors from Monroeville managed to cut the deficit to 16 points on a couple of occasions in the closing period. Middle Tennessee State transfer Angelique Burtts, who recently signed with Georgia State during the fall signing period, helped secure East Mississippi’s fourth straight win with a complete all-around performance for the 8-2 Lady Lions. After putting up 16 points and eight rebounds by halftime, the Conyers, Ga., native finished the contest with a game-high 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting along with a season-best 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Meridian freshman Martika Hull from Southeast Lauderdale was the only other EMCC scorer in twin digits with a dozen points. Coach Mark White’s Lions used aggressive full-court pressure defense and red-hot shooting to post the game’s first 13 points and jump out to a 17-2 advantage over Bevill State-Jasper by the 15:50 mark. Coco Ware’s 3-pointer capped a game-opening stretch in which EMCC hit its first eight shot attempts. The Lions didn’t misfire from the field until Darian Donald’s three-point attempt didn’t fall seven minutes into the game. The Bears’ first points of the game came on a Darren Saddler bucket at the 16:45 mark. However, Bevill State weathered the initial East Mississippi blitz by steadily outscoring the home team, 23-9, during an 11-minute span to cut the deficit to a single digit (26-25) with 4:50 left in the opening half. The Lions responded quickly to go back up by five points (30-25) when Donald scored on a put-back basket and Ware followed immediately with another score after one of his six steals on the night. Shooting 57 percent from the field (17-30 FGs) through the opening 20 minutes, EMCC held a 40-31 lead at the half. Just as they did to open the contest, the Lions came out of the intermission utilizing their relentless full-court defensive pressure to quickly push the lead back up to double figures. EMCC opened the second stanza with Donald hitting a 3-pointer while getting fouled and Charles Houston Jr., putting back the missed four-point play attempt. Ware followed with a layup to give East Mississippi a 47-31 cushion within the first few minutes of the period. Moving to 6-3 on the year with their fifth consecutive victory, the Lions pushed their lead to 26 points (73-47) with Jackson Forest Hill product Ken Hoskins converting a three-point play with 11:00 remaining. Bevill State-Jasper managed to cut the deficit to 15 points (86-71) with 3:35 left in the game, but the visiting Bears would go on to drop their seventh decision in eight outings on the year, including last week’s 87-70 home setback to EMCC. Coming off a season-best, 34-point outing in EMCC’s 94-91 overtime home win over previously unbeaten Jones County earlier in the week, Ware finished with a game-high 23 points to go along with his six steals and five rebounds. The former Starkville High School standout has raised his season’s scoring average to 19.8 points per game after averaging 25.3 points over his last six contests. Donald, of Columbus’ Caledonia High School, registered his second double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 boards against Bevill State. With all five Lion starters scoring in double figures, sophomore Larry Foster of York, Ala., tallied a season-high 17 points, while fellow sophomores Cataurius Taylor of Memphis and Columbus’ Houston added 14 and 12 points, respectively, to the winning cause.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 05 December 2008 ) |
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