Lady Eagles top EMCC, move into state semis

Meridian Community College women’s basketball coach Hilary Allen said he would have preferred to play someone other than rival East Mississippi in his team’s first game in the MACJC State Tournament.

Lucky for Allen, his Lady Eagles were up to the challenge.

MCC got a game-high 26 points out of All American NaDosha Strickland and the Lady Eagles pulled away in the second half to top EMCC 78-64 in a quarterfinal round game in the state tournament in Itawamba.

“First day of the tournament… all the nerves and butterflies, hey, it was tough,” Allen said after his national-ranked team improved to 22-4 on the season.

“It was a really good win for us. Scooba played very well in the first half… we didn’t really start to pull away until probably the 10-minute mark.”

Allen said former Meridian High School standout Shaurice Miller of EMCC was tough to handle early, scoring 14 of her team-best 21 points in the first half.

In addition to Strickland’s 26 points, MCC got 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds from Zirconia Hopkins and 17 points from freshman Tiara Parker.

The Lady Eagles led 31-25 at halftime.

MCC’s women are in action again this afternoon, taking on Southwest Mississippi in a semifinal contest at 1:30 pm.

The MCC men are also in action in the semis tonight, as the Eagles take on the nation’s No. 5 ranked team-and tournament host- Itawamba Community College at 7:45 pm.

*If either MCC team makes it into the championship game- WMER 1390 AM will broadcast those games. Women’s championship game is Thursday at 6:00 pm while the men play at 7:45 pm.*