| Short-handed EMCC women drop 73-63 overtime decision to Wallace State-Hanceville |
|
|
|
SCOOBA – Playing without their injured top-two leading scorers on the year, the East Mississippi women’s basketball team dropped a 73-63 home overtime decision to Wallace State-Hanceville Saturday afternoon at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.
Despite being without the services of sophomore forward Martika Hull and freshman playmaker Natalie Tate – both double-figure scorers for the EMCC women – the home-standing Lady Lions had a chance to claim the victory at the end of regulation when sophomore guard Raona Stowers banked in a running jumper in the lane to put EMCC on top 55-53 with 4.8 seconds left in regulation. However, Wallace State’s Bailee Robinson knotted the score at the buzzer with a driving lay-in basket of her own. In a contest featuring 10 ties and eight lead changes, the visitors from Hanceville took control of the overtime session with a pair of 3-pointers by Morgan Duncan and another trey by Lauren Grisham. EMCC cut the overtime deficit to five points (67-62) on a 3-pointer by Eryn Gray with 1:33 remaining, but Wallace State sealed the 10-point road triumph by hitting 6-of-8 charity tosses over the final minute of overtime. After leading by as many as seven points in the opening half, East Mississippi maintained a 24-20 halftime advantage. The EMCC women stretched the margin back out to seven points (35-28) five minutes into the second stanza on a Gray 3-pointer and a put-back basket by freshman post player RoTasha Windom. Hitting 7-of-20 from beyond the three-point arc on the afternoon, Wallace State responded with 10 unanswered points, including a pair of triples by NaKeesha Wise to give the visitors a 38-35 lead. Five ensuing deadlocks followed the 10-0 Wallace State run midway through the second half to set up the dramatic finish to regulation and subsequent overtime period. A sophomore guard from Columbus High School, Gray scored 19 of her career-high 21 points in the second half for EMCC, including four 3-pointers coming after the intermission. Earning her first collegiate start for the Lady Lions, Windom, a former Kemper County High School standout, stepped up to register a double-double with season-best totals of 18 points and 12 rebounds. Wise led a quartet of double-digit scorers for Wallace State-Hanceville with 18 points, followed by 11 points apiece from Jamie Lack and Julia Tupper. Robinson added 10 points and seven assists for the winners. Head coach Sharon Thompson’s 11-11 EMCC Lady Lions will join Mark White’s 14th-ranked and 19-3 EMCC men’s squad by playing host to Mississippi Delta in an MACJC North Division doubleheader on Thursday (Feb. 11). Game times at Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus are set for 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
|
|
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 February 2010 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|