| East Mississippi sweeps hardwood twinbill at Northeast; 19th-ranked Lions earn 13th straight win |
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BOONEVILLE – The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams earned a road doubleheader sweep over Northeast Mississippi CC Thursday night in MACJC North Division action at Bonner Arnold Coliseum. The 19th-ranked EMCC Lions picked up their 13th consecutive win with a convincing 68-45 triumph over the Tigers, while the Lady Lions never trailed en route to their 68-61 victory over the Northeast women.
In the nightcap, head coach Mark White’s 16-2 EMCC Lions trailed early but rallied to take a comfortable 30-21 halftime advantage. After scoring the first five points following the break, the visitors were basically never challenged the remainder of the evening on the way to posting the decisive 23-point outcome. Along with last month’s narrow 83-81 home win over Northeast, the Lions completed their regular-season sweep of the Tigers for the second consecutive year. Sophomore forward Colin Borchert, of Phoenix, Ariz., led all scorers with 18 points, including 4-of-8 accuracy from beyond the three-point arc. West Point’s Curtis Hall followed with 10 points for the victors. Defensively as a team, the Lions’ suffocating defense limited Northeast to just 33 percent (16-of-49) shooting from the field for the night. Falling to 13-6 overall and 4-5 in division action, the Northeast Tigers received 15 and 13 points, respectively, from Tadarious Coburn and Acie Vance. In the women’s contest, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions never trailed en route to snapping their four-game losing skid and avenging last month’s 66-57 home setback to Northeast in Scooba. A nine-point cushion (34-25) by the visitors late in the opening half was trimmed to four points (34-30) by the halftime break. The second stanza remained tight for most of the half. In fact, the contest was deadlocked three different times following intermission, as the teams’ respective leading scorers Chadisty Hickman of EMCC and Northeast’s Anna Brooke Page traded baskets in the early portion of the second half. A Hickman field goal with 6:04 remaining gave the Lady Lions a 58-52 lead, but Northeast countered with two free throws by Amber Jackson and an inside score by Page to cut the margin to two points with 4:12 left. Once again, the Lady Lions had the answer with freshman guard Rachel Adams hitting consecutive 3-pointers to increase the lead to seven points (64-57). A subsequent bucket by reserve forward Valescia Dixon bumped the margin back up to nine points to essentially seal the contest for the visitors with two minutes left. Producing their highest point total since their 71-56 home win over Northwest Mississippi back on Dec. 5, the Lady Lions improved to 6-13 overall and 3-6 in MACJC North Division play. Hickman, a former Kemper County standout, topped all scorers with 21 points, followed by fellow sophomore guard Alvida Clemons with 17 points off the EMCC bench. Freshman Dajah McCarty, of Quitman, added a season-best 12 points for the winners. The home-standing Lady Tigers fell to 8-12 overall and 4-5 within the division. Page and Jackson paced the Northeast women with 19 and 14 points, respectively. The EMCC squads now return to the Scooba campus for a week-long hoops homestand, tipping off with Monday’s doubleheader against rival Meridian Community College. With game times set for 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum, fans planning to attend Monday’s basketball games in Scooba are encouraged to wear pink in support of the Play 4Kay initiative. Formerly known as WBCA Pink Zone, Play 4Kay through the Kay Yow Cancer Fund supports the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s continuing fight against breast cancer. East Mississippi’s basketball homestand continues next Thursday (Feb. 16) with a divisional doubleheader against Mississippi Delta CC. The following Monday (Feb. 20), EMCC welcomes division foe Itawamba Community College on Sophomore Night for a 5:30/7:30 p.m. hoops twinbill at Currie Coliseum. |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 February 2012 ) |
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