| EMCC basketball teams maintain second place with home sweep of Coahoma |
|
|
 Sparked by Martika Hull’s 18 points and a career-high 26 points from Cataurius Taylor, the EMCC basketball teams maintained their hold of second place in the North Division standings with a home doubleheader sweep of Coahoma Monday night on the Scooba campus. Monday’s EMCC sweep of Coahoma, coupled with Itawamba’s home sweep over Northwest Mississippi, sets up Thursday’s pivotal matchups between the North Division’s front-runners in both the men’s and women’s races. The East Mississippi basketball teams enter Thursday’s hoops doubleheader against Itawamba just one game behind both ICC teams in the respective divisional standings. Thursday’s EMCC-ICC showdown at Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus begins at 5:30 p.m. with the women’s game, followed at 7:30 p.m. by the men’s clash. In Monday’s EMCC-Coahoma women’s contest, coach Sharon Thompson’s 15-4 Lady Lions had little trouble with the Lady Tigers in winning their 11th game in the last 13 outings and moving to 7-1 in divisional play. A 9-1 EMCC lead two minutes into the contest ballooned to a 20-point cushion (38-18) with five minutes left in the half. A 48-24 halftime bulge grew to a 32-point margin before the Lady Lions settled for the 30-point outcome. With all 12 Lady Lions entering the scoring column, freshman Martika Hull led all scorers with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-10 field-goal shooting. The former Southeast Lauderdale standout is averaging 20.7 points on 76-percent shooting (26-of-34 FGs) over her last three outings. Sophomore point guard Kottia White of Jackson Murrah added 10 points in the winning effort over Coahoma. Arielle Taylor paced the Lady Tigers, now 4-14 and 0-8, with 16 points. Now standing at 15-4 overall and 7-1 in divisional play, the Lady Lions are putting together their best season since former basketball coach Dale Peay guided the 1992-93 EMCC women to a 21-6 overall record and an undefeated (12-0) mark in regular-season North Division play. In men’s action Monday in Scooba, coach Mark White’s 12-7 Lions (5-3 in North Division play) avenged last month’s 85-80 setback at Coahoma by scoring the game’s last seven points from the free-throw line in recording an 89-82 home victory over the Tigers. After EMCC jumped out to an early 17-9 lead, Coahoma nailed six 3-pointers during a 24-9 run to take a 33-26 lead by the 6:30 mark of the opening half. With CCC’s Horace Whitehead (16 first-half points with four 3-pointers) and JeJuan Jacks (15 points with three treys) combining for 31 first-half points and seven triples, the visitors held a 45-41 lead at the intermission. Following EMCC’s brief 49-48 lead three minutes into the second stanza, the Tigers scored eight unanswered points to jump out to a 56-49 advantage with 15:29 remaining. However, the Lions countered with seven straight points of their own to knot the score at 56-56. Midway through the closing period, EMCC’s Larry Foster nailed a key 3-pointer from the corner for his only points of the game to put the home team back on top, 65-64. Sophomore point guard Cataurius Taylor followed with a three-point play to give the Lions a 68-64 lead with 9:01 left. The two teams battled through four deadlocks during a two-minute stretch late in the game before the Lions began to inch ahead from the charity stripe. After Coahoma’s Tensely Cowan failed to convert his free throw on a potential three-point play to make it an 82-82 contest with 1:44 left on the game clock, the Tigers were held scoreless the rest of the way. EMCC’s Woodie Howard drilled two free throws after Coahoma’s Marquise Mems misfired on a pair of one-and-one opportunities because of a lane violation called on the Lions. Following Cowan’s missed reverse layup, the Lions’ Coco Ware converted 1-of-2 free throws to make it a three-point game. However, Darian Donald secured the offensive board with 23.3 seconds left to maintain possession. Howard and Taylor iced the game with four more free tosses over the final 15.6 seconds. A former standout at Brighton High School near Memphis, Taylor tallied a career-high 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range, and 5-of-5 from the line. The 5-foot-9 sophomore playmaker added six assists, four rebounds and three steals, while committing but one turnover in the contest. Ware, a former Starkville High School product, managed his third double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 rebounds despite shooting just 3-of-12 from the field. Donald, from Caledonia High School, totaled 14 points and seven boards, while Starkville’s Howard also hit double digits with 10 points. Finishing the contest with a dozen made 3-pointers as a team, Coahoma, now 12-8 and 3-5 on the year, was led by Jacks and Mems with 27 and 24 points, respectively. Whitehead added 16 points, but was held scoreless in the second half, while Cowan finished with 13 for the visitors. |
|
| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 February 2009 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|