MCC Sweeps Hinds

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles had to mount a furious comeback in the second half of action Monday night to take a 95-80 victory over Hinds Community College at Graham Gymnasium. Meridian improved to 2-0 for the season and got another solid offensive night from sophomore Chasity Kearney to lead the way for MCC. Kearney finished the night with 23 points and 17 rebounds to lead the charge in the second half for the Lady Eagles.

“We played very well in the second half and I am proud of how hard we fought,” said MCC head coach Hilary Allen. “We got some great performances tonight and it was a great home victory early in the season for our team.”

Hinds held the lead at the end of the first half by a score of 46-43, but the Lady Eagles would begin to chip away at the lead in the opening minutes of the second half. MCC took its first lead of the second half with 16:45 left on a 10-0 scoring run to make the score 56-51. Kearney led the charge with a several baskets and one three-point bucket to give Meridian the five-point edge. The Lady Eagles built its lead to ten points later in the half on a pair of long jump shots by Norianna Haynes to make the score 61-51 with 12:23 left in the second half.

Hinds started to slowly make a comeback of its own to cut the score to 72-67 with 9:30 left in the game. Michelle Stewart hit a pair of three-point jumpers in the scoring run for the Lady Bulldogs, but Meridian would eventually find a way to hold on for the victory.

Freshman Gelese Lampton hit a pair of baskets and sophomore Kia Morris added a pair of buckets late in the half to build the Meridian to 82-71 with 7:37 left in the game. Meridian ran away with the rest of the game and forced several turnovers that led to easy baskets to make the final score 95-80.

Lampton ended the game with 17 points and Haynes ended her evening with 14 points. Carmen Smith led the way in scoring for Hinds with 22 points and Stewart ended the game with 18 points. Hinds dropped its record to 0-4 overall for the season.

The Lady Eagles return to action Thursday on the road at Wallace-Hanceville beginning at 5:30 p.m. MCC will return to Graham Gymnasium this Saturday against Coahoma beginning at 3 p.m.

MCC (men) 77
Hinds 70

First year MCC head coach Nathan Courtney secured his first coaching win for the Eagles with a hard fought seven-point victory over the Bulldogs.

Hinds held a slim 36-35 at the end of the first half and both exchanged the lead for a majority of the second half. The Bulldogs held the lead for most of the second half, but MCC would take the lead first one of first times in the second half. Timothy Jones drained a pair of baskets to give the Eagles a 64-63 lead with 3:59 left in the game.

The two teams swapped the lead for the next two minutes, but Nick Waters would give the Eagles its biggest spark of the night in the final moments of the game. The former Meridian High standout secured a three-point play for the Eagles with 1:44 left to make the score 71-68 in favor of MCC.

The Eagles added to its small lead moments later on a basket by Kevin Williams to make the score 73-68 with 1:11 left in the second half. MCC came up with two more stops on defense and secured the game from the free throw line to take its first win of the season.

Timothy Jones led the way for MCC with 14 points and Emmanuel Okoro added 13 in the victory for the Eagles. Waters finished the game for MCC with 11 points and Carlo McDonald led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points.

The Eagles return to action Thursday on the road at Wallace-Hanceville beginning at 7:30 and will return home this Saturday against Coahoma at 5 p.m.