from school reports
SCOOBA — Visiting Meridian Community College used a 14-2 run to open the second half en route to claiming a 64-53 road victory against East Mississippi in women's basketball action Wednesday night at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
During a tightly contested first half of play that featured four ties, the Lions narrowed a seven-point deficit late in the half to just 28-26 by the break on a Malashia Chandler driving basket followed by a 3-pointer by Natalie Tate coming at the halftime buzzer.
A basket by Tate was the only scoring the EMCC women could muster during the opening four minutes of the second stanza, as the Eagles broke open the contest with their 14-2 run. After all-region sophomore forward Martika Hull picked up her third foul for the Lions at the 17:06 mark, Meridian pushed the margin to 42-28 with a 3-pointer by Sharda'e Johnson and a driving basket from Philadelphia product Tiara Logan.
Back-to-back buckets by EMCC freshman Nashedra Barry cut the deficit to 42-32, but the home team could not get any closer than eight points until the final minutes of the contest. With the Lions trailing 57-49 with just under two minutes remaining, Hull gathered up a loose ball after a missed free throw by teammate Raona Stowers and promptly made it a six-point contest.
Hull then had a chance to pull EMCC to within four points, but the former Southeast Lauderdale product couldn't convert the breakaway layup following a steal. Johnson hit a baseline floater for the Eagles, while EMCC freshman Skylar Barnes misfired on a 3-point attempt. Meridian sealed the 11-point road triumph by hitting 5-of-6 from the charity stripe during the final 40 seconds of the contest.
Kierra Jones and Johnson led the winners with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Brittany Bohannon of Kemper County (11) and Logan (10) were also in double figures for Meridian, now 3-1 on the season.
Tate topped all scorers with 15 points for the Lions. Hull recorded a double-double with a dozen points and 10 rebounds, while Barry scored nine of her 11 points in the second half on 4-of-4 shooting during the final 20 minutes.
