MCC Lady Eagles one W away from NJCAA National Champ. Tourney

By Jeff Edwards / assistant sports editor
The Meridian Star

CLINTON — The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles might be small, but what they lack for in size, they make up for in hustle and tenacity.

That was never more evident than in the Lady Eagles’ 86-74 win over Jones County Junior College in the semifinals of the Region 23 Tournament here at Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum.

MCC led throughout and withstood a late charge by the Lady Bobcats to advance to the tournament championship game against Copiah-Lincoln tonight at 6 p.m.

Even though Jones had two big inside players in Pauline Love and Rosemary Green, the Lady Eagles were quicker to every loose ball and withstood constant pressure that led to fast-break baskets.

“That’s my style of play anyway, but it’s definitely my style of play with the team we have,” MCC coach Hilary Allen said. “We’re lacking in size but we’re very quick and we use that to our advantage.”

Surprisingly, the Lady Eagles also held a 32-31 rebound advantage over the Lady Bobcats.

“When you look at the team, we do lack in size, but we have kids who really rebound the ball well in Jennifer Wair and NaDosha Strickland” Allen said.

“And Anesia McBride gets all those loose ball and junk rebounds that you just can’t teach. That’s all hustle.”

After trailing most of the first half, the Lady Eagles took their first lead when Strickland sank a driving layup to give MCC at 26-24 advantage with 6:10 left in the first half. The Lady Eagles never trailed again.

MCC led 38-30 at halftime and steadily pulled away in the first 13 minutes of the second half, taking its biggest lead when Strickland made a basket to put the Lady Eagles up 70-54 with 7:20 remaining.

Jones would not go quietly, turning up the pressure defense and forcing four consecutive MCC turnovers at one point. The Lady Bobcats ripped

off a 14-2 run over the next 5 minutes to cut the lead to 72-68 with 3:06 remaining.

“Jones has got the option of playing big or fast and when they picked it up and started playing fast, it caused us problems,” Allen said. “They created steals out of their press and it led to easy baskets for them.”

But the Lady Eagles finally broke the press on their next possession which led to a Strickland layup and seemed to calm the nerves of the MCC players.

Jones pulled within four once more but Meridian was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute to preserve the win. Meridian was 17-of-19 from the line in the game.

Strickland once again led all scorers with 32 points and eight rebounds while McBride added 20 points and nine boards. Carla Latham also had 11 points in the winning effort.

Love and Green led Jones with 16 points apiece while Kelsey Hopkins had 14 and Kim Lewis chipped in with 10.

According to Allen, MCC’s hustle was the key to the double-digit victory.

“We talked about hustling before the game,” Allen said. “We had to come up with hustle points. We came up with a lot of loose balls that led to a lot of second chance possessions and baskets for us.”