MCC Sweeps ECCC

(Courtesy of The Meridian Star, Brandon Walker)

• Lady Eagles roll in league showdown of tow nationally-ranked squads

MCC women 81
ECCC women 55


(MERIDIAN) – In midst of his eighth season in charge of the Meridian Community College Lady Eagles, head coach Hilary Allen was the first to admit Monday night was a special night.

In his tenure with the Lady Eagles, Allen has won more than 100 games, a pair of conference championships and currently has the Lady Eagles No. 25 in the latest NJCAA national poll.

Still, even Allen himself can’t remember a better performance from his Lady Eagles than Monday night’s showing.

Playing host to No. 18 East Central at Graham Gymnasium, the Lady Eagles roared out to a 44-25 halftime lead en route to a convincing 81-55 victory over the Lady Warriors.

“It’s the best game we’ve played since I’ve been at Meridian,” Allen remarked after the 26-point win.

“I thought we played well in all facets of the game against very good competition, which is the most exciting thing to me.”

After a back-and-forth start between a pair of evenly-matched teams, Meridian began to pull away at the midway point of the first half. Leading 28-24 after 15 minutes, Meridian followed the lead of sophomore NaDosha Strickland, who scored 12 straight points to spark a 16-1 run over the final 4 minutes of the first half.

The scoring burst gave Strickland a game-high 18 points at halftime and stretched MCC’s cushion to 19 points.

“That’s just what she does,” said Allen of the former Bay Springs standout.

“She is a heck of a player who really hates to lose, so she has the ability to put us on her back when we need it.”

Strickland didn’t let up after the break, adding 14 for a game high 32 points on the night.

Meridian’s Tiara Parker also had a hot hand on the night with 20 points while guard Dana Parker added 14 on four-of-five shooting from 3-point range.

The lead remained at 19 through the first 5 minutes of the second half until Strickland and Parker connected on back-to-back treys to push the lead 25 points at 59-34.

“Dana and Tiara both gave us great efforts tonight on offense,” Allen said.

“And defensively, the entire team was fantastic. Our ball pressure was outstanding.”

MCC’s defense forced the normally-sure handed Lady Warriors into a season-high 22 turnovers.

For East Central, Mystee Dale scored 21 points to lead the way while Tawayatha Evans added 16.

With the win, MCC forged a tie atop the MACJC South Division standings with East Central with both teams now owning 7-2 marks in divisional play.

“Make no mistake, East Central is still the team to beat in our division and we really wanted to make a statement that we can play well at home against top-notch competition,” Allen stated.

“I think we did exactly that.”

Overall, Meridian improved to 17-3 on the year and they will travel to face Jones County Thursday night.

MCC men 63
ECCC men 61

Meridian’s Eagles completed the sweep in Monday’s nightcap, outlasting East Central by two points to improve to 12-8 overall and 6-3 in MACJC South Division play.

The Eagles utilized a 30-point outing from guard Regis Huddleston to hang on for the win.

Huddleston, who has averaged 19 points on the season, scored a game-high 20 second-half points to lead the Eagles.

Behind Huddleston’s 30, Mario Luckett added 10 and Otis Williams chipped in eight for MCC.


MACJC South Division WOMEN
SCHOOL RECORD
Meridian 7-2
East Central 7-2
Pearl River 6-3
Copiah-Lincoln 5-4
Southwest 5-4
Gulf Coast 3-6
Jones County 3-6
Hinds 0-9

MACJC South Division MEN
SCHOOL RECORD
Copiah-Lincoln 8-1
Pearl River 7-2
Meridian 6-3
Gulf Coast 5-4
Jones County 4-5
East Central 3-6
Southwest 2-7
Hinds 1-8