MCC Lady Eagles Defeat JCJC At Region 23 Tournament

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles were looking to win its season series against the Lady Bobcats of Jones County Junior and MCC dominated the game from start to finish. MCC got a solid performance from sophomore Chasity Kearney and superb defense to come away with a 92-70 victory over JCJC in the quarterfinal round of the Region 23 Tournament at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College Wednesday afternoon.

The two teams met twice during the regular with each school winning one game, but the Lady Eagles won the all-important game during the postseason. The Lady Bobcats defeated MCC at Graham Gymnasium in December by a final score of 84-72 and MCC returned the favor later in the season by taking a road victory over Jones by a final score of 81-68.

The Lady Bobcats built a 27-19 lead with 10:34 left in the first half, but MCC went on an impressive 19-4 scoring run to take a 38-31 lead with 4:59 left in the half. Chasity Kearney and Gelese Lampton each had four points in the scoring run, while Norianna Haynes added four points and a pair of steals on defense for the Lady Eagles. MCC (20-10) continued to carry the momentum for the rest of the first half and take a 50-37 lead over the Lady Bobcats at halftime.

Kearney was the thorn in the side of Jones in the first half as the sophomore ended the first half with 27 points and 16 rebounds, to go along with three steals and one block.

The Lady Eagles built a lead by at least 20 points or more on two different occasions in the second half to cruise to the quarterfinal victory over the Lady Bobcats.

Kearney had one of her biggest offensive games of the season to lead the way for the Lady Eagles with 39 points and 22 rebounds. Haynes finished the game with 12 points and Lampton had a great shooting day for MCC with 10 points.

The Lady Eagles will now advance to the semi-final round of the Region 23 Tournament to face Co-Lin Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Lady Wolves defeated Baton Rouge 61-53 to advance to the semi-final round to square off against Meridian.