Tale of two halves: Jones County battles back to down MCC

By Chris Brennaman / Assistant Sports Editor

Jones County 72
Meridian women 69

With Meridian Community College leading by as many as 12 points late in the first half, nobody in Graham Gymnasium on the MCC campus could have predicted that the Lady Eagles would have to attempt a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to try to force overtime.

Tiara Parker's 3-point attempt from the right wing with 5 seconds on the clock fell short, leaving the Lady Eagles on the losing end of a 72-69 decision Thursday night.

"This was a story of two different halves," said MCC coach Hilary Allen. "We played one of our best first halves of the season, but came out as a completely different team in the second half."

Meridian, which shot 42 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, used a 12-2 run to distance itself from Jones over a 4-minute span in the first half. The Lady Eagles stretched their lead to 12 points on three occasions before taking a six-point lead into the locker room.

The cushion could have been much bigger, but Meridian failed to capitalize on many of the Lady Bobcats' 19 first-half turnovers.

"To get as many steals as we did — and they lost the ball so many other times — we have to take those on fastbreaks and score those easy baskets. That's what we do best, but we didn't do that tonight."

Parker, a former Meridian High standout, scored 14 of her game-high 24 points in the first half on 6-of-10 shooting.

In the second half, Parker opened the scoring with a basket before Jones ripped off six straight points in 40 seconds to close the gap to two with just under 2 minutes off the clock.

The Lady Eagles pushed the lead back to nine on the first of Parker's two 3-pointers at the 12:25 mark.

TeAnna Carter ended Jones' 0-for-15 shooting slump with a bucket 31 seconds later.

Jones (13-4) kept clawing its way back bringing the deficit to four points with 8:38 to play.

Meridian quickly answered with a layup by former Kemper County Lady Wildcat Brittany Bohannon. She was fouled on the play, but was unable to convert the free throw — a sign of what was ahead for the Lady Eagles.

From that point, MCC missed 12 of its last 15 shots of the game and four free throws as Jones took its first lead of the game on two of Demara Bolton's team-leading 20 points with 5:36 showing on the clock.

To secure the victory, the Lady Bobcats held off an MCC surge, which tied the game on six straight points — a three-point play by LaQuita Burrough and a 3-pointer by Parker.

With 53 ticks left, Tiara Logan — a former Philadelphia star — brought the Lady Eagles back to within a point on a 3-pointer.

A pair of free throws by Erica Moore left MCC with three points to make up and 12 seconds on the clock, but Parker was unable to sink the game-tying basket.

"I give Jones County credit," Allen said. "Particularly in the second half, they made some big shots."

Bohannon finished with 13 points for the Lady Eagles, while Natonya McWilliams had 12.

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for Meridian, which fell to 12-6.


Jones County 104
Meridian men 56

Meridian was only able to keep the high-powered offense of Jones County in check for 13 1/2 minutes Thursday night.

The Eagles (9-9) trailed by six when JCJC (15-2) started a 16-1 run late in the first half.

A dozen of the points in the stretch came on a trio of 3-pointers from Will Poole, who connected on a total of six on the night and totaled a game-high 23 points.

Trenton Marshall, a First-Team NJCAA Preseason All-American, scored a 22 points for the Bobcats, who topped the century mark for the second consecutive outing and won their sixth straight game.

Brandon Wilson added 14 for Jones.

The Eagles were led by Mario Luckett, who had 19 points in the contest. Travis Thompson followed with eight points.