| No. 21 EMCC Lions stifle Itawamba 66-47; EMCC women fall 39-35 to Lady Indians |
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.jpg "Image") The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams tip off a week-long stretch of road action by taking on division foe Northeast Mississippi Saturday afternoon in Booneville. EMCC will also travel to Coahoma and Holmes during the coming week. In moving to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in MACJC North Division play, head coach Mark White’s EMCC Lions held Itawamba to 33-percent (16-of-49 FGs) shooting on the night. ICC’s previous season-low scoring total on the season was 57 points in road losses to East Central and Jones County. Following the game’s fourth deadlock at 22-all late in the opening period, the Lions used a 12-2 run over the final four minutes of the half to take a 34-24 lead into intermission. Itawamba cut the deficit to eight points (49-41) with eight minutes remaining in the contest, but EMCC reeled off eight straight points en route to cruising to the 19-point victory. Balanced scoring once again proved beneficial for the winners, as Deonte Alexander’s game-high 17 points paced six EMCC players scoring seven or more points on the night. Sophomore forward Jonathan King notched his sixth double-double of the campaign with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow sophomore Donovan Walker of Meridian added 11 points for the winners. Dropping to 6-8 overall and 1-3 within the division, Itawamba was led by Todd Nelson and Wendell Williams with 14 and 10 points, respectively. In Thursday’s opener, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC women battled back from a 17-point (32-15) deficit eight minutes into the second half to pull to within three points (37-34) late in the contest. However, ICC’s Mandy Collins connected on a pair of clutch free throws with 12.2 seconds remaining to nail down the victory. Down 19-10 at the half, the Lady Lions scored nine consecutive points midway through the second stanza to trim the margin back to single digits (32-24) with 8:47 left in the contest. EMCC was able to continue to chip away at the deficit down the stretch due mainly to a pair of missed 1-and-1 opportunities by the visitors and an ICC turnover on an inbounds play during the final 49 seconds of play. Falling to .500 on the year at 7-7 overall and evening up at 2-2 in division play, the Lady Lions only had four players enter the scoring column while shooting just 19 percent (11-of-57 FGs) from the field and hitting but 1-of-15 three-point attempts. Freshman guard Chadisty Hickman, a former Kemper County standout, led the way with a dozen points but struggled with 3-of-13 shooting on the night. Fellow KCHS product RoTasha Windom followed with nine points and a career-high 19 boards. Improving to 11-3 overall and 4-0 in division action, the ICC Lady Indians were led by LaPrecious Naylon with 10 points. The East Mississippi basketball teams begin a stretch of three road doubleheaders in the coming week by taking on Northeast Mississippi Saturday afternoon in Booneville. Game times for the makeup twinbill, postponed previously due to wintry weather conditions throughout Mississippi earlier this month, are set for 2 and 4 p.m. at Bonner Arnold Coliseum on the NEMCC campus. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 21 January 2011 ) |
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