Meridian pulls off sweep in division openers

Lady Eagles 76
Hinds 58

Since losing a nine point contest at home on November 7 to then top-ranked Trinity Valley (TX) Community College, the Meridian Community College Lady Eagles have now won ten straight games, running their record out to 11-1.

MCC’s women had been averaging nearly 30 points more than their competitors in their ten victories coming into Monday nights MACJC South Division opening game versus Hinds Community College.

If Hinds wanted to leave town with a victory they would have to find a way to slow down MCC’s sophomore trio of Zerconia Hopkins, NaDosha Strickland and Jennifer Wair.

But instead of slowing down, the Hinds offense kicked it into high gear by out-running MCC in a fast paced first half. Hinds grabbed a seven point lead twice in the game, 17-10 at the 11:00 mark and 29-22 at the 4:00 mark.

Behind nine first half points by Kayla Palmer, Hinds took a 32-29 lead into half.

MCC would come out and completely change the momentum in the first part of the second half with tenacious defense, outstanding rebounding and good shooting to pull away with a 76-58 vicotry.

NaDosha Stickland scored a game-high 24 points, Jennifer Wair scored a double-double 15 points 15 rebounds, and freshman Tiara Parker had 11 points.

The Lady Eagles, who improved to 11-1 (1-0), will face rival-East Central Thursday night in Decatur. Both teams are in the NJCAA top-25 poll and are primed for a key South Division showdown.


Eagles 77
Hinds 60

The good news for MCC: the Eagles were 4-1 when playing at home coming into Monday night’s game versus Hinds. The bad news: they were without their leading scorer, Jason Windom, who was declared academically ineligible for the spring semester. Without Windom’s 19 points per game, MCC head coach George Brooks would have to come up with a creative game plan for his offense to make up for the absent points.

For an already young team, having just one returning player from last year and playing without their leading scorer, the task would prove a learning experience for MCC.

The Eagles used a 12-3 run to earn a 24-11 lead midway through the first half.

Mario Luckett scored 11 points in the first half to give the Eagles a 32-19 lead with 5:00 to play before half, then the youth and lack of experience showed up in the final minutes of the opening period as the Eagles blew a 13 point lead and Hinds crawled back to within four points at 35-31 at half.

After half, MCC regained their form and behind four players that scored in double figures, they managed a comfortable 71-58 lead with just 3:00 remaining.

“It showed tonight that as long as one guy doesn’t try to replace Jason (Windom) then we’ll be alright,” said MCC head coach George Brooks.

“We passed the ball around, we took pride in rebounding and we’re at the point were it doesn’t matter who scores, just as long as we score,” said Brooks

MCC’s Mario Luckett ended up with 21 points, Otis Williams had 18, Regis Huddleston scored 12, and Reggie Shelwood added 10.

MCC (7-5) travels to face East Central Thursday night.