Former NEL star leads MCC past Wallace-Selma in college debut

By Daniel Rigdon / Sports Writer
The Meridian Star


Lady Eagles 90
Wallace-Selma 69

MERIDIAN — The Meridian Community College kicked off its 2010-11 season in winning fashion as both the men and women's teams notched convincing victories against Wallace-Selma Community College Wednesday night at Graham Gymnasium. The MCC women broke open a close game in the second half to win 90-69, while the men rolled to an 88-68 win in coach Jeff Walker’s debut with the Eagles.

In the women's game the Patriots jumped out to an early lead on coach Hilary Allen's Eagles over the course of the first six minutes to grab a 23-13 lead.

"I give Wallace-Selma credit," said Allen. "They came out here in the first 10 minutes and played us closer than they had ever played us."

MCC, however, would make a run of its own via the perimeter shooting of sophomore point guard Bianca Powell outscoring Selma 34-16 in the final 14 minutes of the half to enter the locker room up 47-39.

Selma would respond early in the second half using a stiff defense to knot things up at 51 at the 12:52 mark.

Enter Norianna Haynes.

Haynes, a Northeast Lauderdale product, gave the Eagles the spark they needed scoring 11 points on four consecutive possesions to put MCC out in front for good.

"The play of Norianna in the second half was huge," added Allen. "She scored 11 points in a row and she gave an all-out effort. She got most of those points off steals and getting out and running."

Meridian would convert that momentum into a rout of the Patriots as they cruised to the 90-69 victory to improve to 1-0 on the season.

Haynes finished the game with a team-high 24 points— 19 in the second half— in her college debut, while Arnissa Galloway had 15 points and Tay Odneal dropped in 10. Powell finished with nine points on the night.

"Bianca did a great job of distributing the ball tonight and Arnissa did a great job for us tonight as well," noted Allen.

Selma's Ashley Grimes led all scorers with 29 points.


Eagles 88
Wallace-Selma 68

The Meridian men followed suit in the nightcap blowing past the Patriots by 20 to kick off Walker's era on a positive note.

After trailing by three points in the early going, the Eagles erupted. MCC, using its faced-paced attack, out-worked Selma and held a 12-point lead at intermission.

They wouldn't let up in the final 20 minutes of play and Emmanuel Donald led the Eagles (1-0) to an easy victory.

"We were glad to get the win," said Walker. "It's certainly better than the other option, but there are a lot of things we need to improve on. I told our guys after the game that your biggest improvement comes going into that second game."

Donald ended the night with 20 points, while Deangelo Pryor and Travis Friedman each went for 15. Lakin Ford added 13 points and former Newton High standout Rashad Robinson dropped in 10 in the win.

MCC went 21-of-38 from the charity stripe.

"We try to get to the free throw line a lot," added Walker. "It's something that we have to do given the transition game we try to play. Our percentage wasn't where it needed to be so we will have to work on that."

Both the men and women will be back in action as they host Bishop State on Saturday afternoon. The women get things started at 3 p.m., while the men are slated to tip off at 5 p.m.