MCC drops 6th in a row; Lady Eagles cruise

By Jeff Edwards / assistant sports editor
The Meridian Star

Not many basketball games are won or lost in the first 10 minutes. However, the Meridian Community College Eagles found out a bad first 10 minutes can signal the beginning of a long night.

MCC found itself down 20 points to Hinds 10 minutes into the game on their way to a 76-56 loss Thursday night. The Eagles dropped their sixth game in a row and fell to 4-15 overall and 1-7 in South Division play.

“We had open shots and didn’t convert and they (Hinds) played with a lot of energy and made shots,” MCC coach George Brooks said. “We can’t win when we don’t guard better than that.”

The Eagles were down 19-10 with 12:35 remaining in the first half before Hinds went on a 11-0 run over the next two-plus minutes to make the lead 30-10.

Meridian played Hinds even the remainder of the game, but the damage had been done.

Hinds led by as many as 38-16 before a Regis Huddleston 3-pointer at the buzzer cut the lead to 38-19 at the halftime break.

Even though the Eagles played Hinds even the final 30 minutes, Brooks didn’t think MCC played any better.

“They outplayed us start to finish,” Brooks said. “I don’t think we ever got in a flow. They (Hinds) just stopped making some shots. I don’t think it was anything we were doing.”

Chris Leggett led Meridian with 18 points while Dexter Leflore and Keith James each had 12.

Hinds was led by Flawaan Flaggs with 26 points and Lewis Younger, who had 11.



MCC women 87
Hinds 69

Thursday night’s game was very beneficial for the Lady Eagles. Not only did they pick up a big win against a division opponent to keep their playoff hopes alive, the large point spread allowed coach Hilary Allen to empty his bench.

“We got a lot of points from a lot of different people,” Allen said. “A lot of kids got playing time. Some players come to practice every day and practice hard but don’t get much playing time. We had several players come off the bench and be productive tonight.”

The Lady Eagles came out of the gates smoking, jumping out to a 30-12 lead. Hinds closed the gap before halftime but MCC still led 43-32 at intermission.

However, Hinds’ momentum was short-lived, as MCC would jump back out to a big lead in the first 5 minutes of the second half.

MCC led by as many as 27 at 82-55, with 5:36 to play before Allen emptied his bench.

Carla Latham and Anesia McBride led the Lady Eagles with 16 points apiece while NaDosha Strickland scored 14, Hilal Yildirim tallied 13 and Zirconia Hopkins chipped in with 10 points.

The Lady Eagles improved to 12-7 overall and 5-3 in South Division play.

“We got six tough division games coming up,” Allen said. “Tonight was a good way to get us started on the stretch run of the season. Things are really coming together for us.”