Georgia Perimeter proves too much for Lady Eagles

Ryan Satcher
special to the Star
The Meridian Star

The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles gave visiting Georgia Perimeter all it could handle on Saturday afternoon but the No. 23-ranked Lady Jaguars’ athleticism finally took over in a 93-86 victory.

“Georgia Perimeter has a great program,” said MCC coach Hilary Allen. “They have quality athletes that can run and shoot. They are just a good team. We played with them and played the whole 40 minutes. We just kept fighting and I’m really proud of them for that.”

The Lady Eagles jumped out to a lead early in the game with strong outside shooting.

Nadasha Strickland and Carla Latham each hit a three-pointer in the opening minutes to give Meridian an 8-4 edge.

Georgia Perimeter came back with six points from Phebe Smith to take the lead.Meridian was able to tie the game several times during the first half but was unable to take back the lead in the first half.

The Lady Jaguars stretched the lead out to five points on two different occasions but MCC battled back each time to tie the game.

Georgia Perimeter finally stretched out a lead with a 7-0 run with just over five minutes left in the first half.

Renee Jackson scored five points in the run to help the Lady Jaguars take a 35-28 lead with 5:04 left in the first.

Meridian again answered as Latham scored five points in a 7-2 run to cut the lead down to 37-35 with 1:42 left in the half.

The Lady Jaguars took a 40-37 lead into the locker room at half but the Lady Eagles came out strong in the second half to take their first lead since early in the contest.

Latham had a pair of three-pointers as Meridian ran off the first 12 points of the second half to take a 49-40 lead with 17:27 left in the game.

MCC stretched the lead out to as many as 10 points on a three-point play by Anesia McBride with 16:03 left to play.

The Lady Jaguars slowly cut into the lead and made the score 55-51 on a three-pointer by Ashley Hagans with 13:59 left to play.

Meridian held a three-point lead with just over 11 minutes left when Georgia Perimeter finally started taking back control of the game.

The Lady Jaguars went on a 12-1 run led by four points from Leslie Phillips to take a 69-61 lead with 7:58 remaining.Meridian answered with four points from Holly Dial and trailed by just three points with 6:25 left in the game but the Lady Jaguars again went on a run to stretch out a lead.

Georgia Perimeter went on a 10-0 run to take an 81-68 lead with 4:24 remaining in the game.

Meridian continued to fight and cut the lead down to seven points on a bucket by Dial with 2:10 remaining.

MCC got to within six points in the final minute but Georgia Perimeter held on for the 93-86 victory.Britteny Henderson scored 26 points to lead the Lady Jaguars in the victory while Smith had 17 and Jackson had 13. Hagans added 12 in the win.Latham, Dial and Strickland each had 17 points for MCC in the loss.

The Lady Eagles, now 5-2 for the season, will travel to take on Selma on Monday night in a makeup game.