Meridian women use 3-point prowess to capture crown

By Robby Atkinson/Special to The Star The Meridian Star

The Meridian Community College Eagles may have experienced one of its brightest moments of the 2009-2010 season, but the ride is far from over.

The Eagles connected on nine 3-pointers as a team and got a team-high 25 points from sophomore Sharda'e Johnson as MCC wrapped up the Miss-Lou Conference Tournament championship with an 83-66 victory against Baton Rouge on Wednesday at the Graham Gymnasium.

Both teams had already clinched a berth in next week's Region 23 Tournament at Mississippi College in Clinton, but MCC head coach Hilary Allen is happy to have an enormous amount of momentum heading the next round of postseason play.

"It is, of course, a great win against a great basketball team," said Allen. "Our team played so hard on both ends of the court and this is such a great victory heading into a very difficult tournament next week."

The Eagles captured the Miss-Lou Conference Tournament title after finishing second in the regular season behind Baton Rouge to make the victory on Wednesday night a little sweeter. The two teams have played four times this season and the Eagles have won the last two meetings heading into the Region 23 Tournament next week.

"We knew we had to play a superb basketball game tonight," added Allen. "We shot the play well from the perimeter and made some clutch plays defensively down the stretch."

MCC opened a quick 8-0 lead to open the basketball game thanks to great shooting from Johnson, who earned the Miss-Lou Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player. Johnson drained a long 3-pointer and hit another bucket to spark MCC in the opening minutes.

"That was such a statement early and we really needed to come out with some energy and we did that," said Allen. "She had such a great tournament and I am so proud of how hard she worked in both games this week."

MCC continued to hold a double-digit lead throughout most of the first half and extend its lead to 20 points with 11:25 left in the first half. Sophomore Tiara Logan, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, drained two 3-point buckets in the scoring run for MCC to make the score 30-10. Baton Rouge would not go away quietly as the Bear bench helped trim the MCC lead to 37-20 with 6:32 left in the first half. Sedreka Plummer had six points and Teagra Clifton chipped in with four points to bring Baton Rouge to within striking distance.

MCC was able to hold off two more Baton Rouge scoring runs and take a 50-33 lead into the halftime break. The Bears were their own worst enemy in the first half as Baton Rouge committed 14 turnovers.

Baton Rouge made one final run at the Eagles with 9:30 left in the game to cut the score to 62-55. Plummer led the way again for the Bears with several baskets off the bench and G.G. Williams also came off the bench with a couple of baskets to cut into the MCC lead. The Eagles would put the game away with a spectacular 13-0 run to push the score to 75-55 with 5:36 left in the game.

Johnson drained two more 3-pointers and the Eagles turned up the pressure on defense to cause four key turnovers that led to the run on offense. Baton Rouge would never get closer as MCC went on to capture the tournament title with the 83-66 win.

Logan ended the game with 12 points for MCC and Amber Fields had a huge night for the Eagles with 19 points. Clifton ended the night with 20 points in the loss for Baton Rouge and Williams had 23 points off the bench in the loss for the Bears.

Clifton was also named to the Miss-Lou Conference All-Tournament Team along with teammate Tierra Etienne. Allen was named Miss-Lou Conference Coach of the Year with the victory and also earned his 200th coaching win as head coach at MCC.

Clifton was also named as the All-Conference Player of the Year and Ladarica Campbell earned first team All-Conference for MCC along with teammate Tiara Logan. Johnson was named to the Miss-Lou Honorable Mention Team and Campbell was named Miss-Lou Newcomer of the Year for MCC.