MCC Slips Past ECCC

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles were looking to continue its miraculous postseason run on Wednesday afternoon at the 2015 MACJC State Tournament in Wesson, MS. The Lady Eagles opened the tournament Monday afternoon by upsetting Itawamba Community College who came into the field as one of the top two seeds, but the journey to the next round would not be easy for MCC.

The Lady Eagles would meet one of its long time rivals, East Central Community College, in the semi-final round of the tournament Wednesday afternoon at the Mullen Gymnasium on the campus of Co-Lin Community College. The Lady Warriors had won the two previous meetings over the Lady Eagles during the regular season and was also seeded second in the tournament, so the third time would need to be the charm for MCC.

MCC (17-9) fought its way through a wild game to defeat East Central by a final score of 79-77 to advance to the MACJC State Championship game. The title game will be played Thursday night at 6 p.m. between MCC and Co-Lin. The Lady Wolves defeated Jones County Junior College by a final of 76-68 to advance to the title game against Meridian. The Lady Wolves finished the game against JCJC on a 16-0 run. Co-Lin will enter the game against MCC Thursday night with a perfect 25-0 record and the Lady Wolves are also currently ranked 18th according to the latest NJCAA Division I poll.

The game ultimately belonged to sophomore Miaya Crowder, who arguably had her biggest game of the 2014-2015 season for the Lady Eagles. Crowder finished the game with a team-high 30 points, 20 rebounds, four steals, and three blocked shots in the semi-final victory for the Lady Eagles. Freshman Tytianna Hall also turned in a solid game for Meridian with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore Londyn Thomas chipped in with 11 points.

MCC would finish the game by shooting 46 percent from the floor, while ECCC finished by shooting 39 percent. The Lady Eagles were also able to win the rebounding battle by a 48-44 edge, but the struggles would come at the charity stripe for both teams. MCC finished the game by shooting 64 percent from the free throw line, while ECCC had its struggles at the line by shooting 42 percent.

Tashi-ana Thompson also had a great day in the loss for East Central with 26 points and finished the game by shooting 5-for-12 from three-point range. Kalybriah Haskin also had a great day for the Lady Warriors with 18 points and Shakerya Morrison chipped in with 16 points.