By Daniel Rigdon / sports writer
The Meridian Community College women's basketball team has been playing solid basketball to start off the 2009-2010 season and there was certainly not a letdown Monday night as the homestanding Eagles jumped all over Hinds Community College 95-74 at Graham Gymnasium.
MCC (6-1) wasted little time as it seemed to capitalize on almost every possession in a game in which they never trailed. Meridian would grab its first double digit lead just 8:50 into the contest and would head into halftime with a commanding 21-point lead at 55-34.
MCC was also a stout 21-29 from the foul line on the night.
"That is an excellent junior college free throw shooting percentage," said Meridian coach Hilary Allen. "We didn't shoot free throws good at the start of the season."
Meridian would continue playing at a high level as they stretched the lead to 30 points at one point during the second half. Shardae Johnson hit two of her four 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put the game out of reach for Hinds.
Johnson had a game-high 19 points for Meridian. Porsha Wilson added 14, while LaDerica Campbell dropped in 12 points on the night. Tay Odneal did a little bit of everything as she had nine points and four steals.
"Its hard to point out one player on our team because they all contribute," said Allen of his squad.
Hinds was led by Krystal Johnson with 16 points.
"I think we played really well tonight," said Allen. "Its our seventh game of the season and we are progressing every game."
Meridian will be back in action Dec. 1 as it hosts Wallace-Selma at 6 p.m.
Hinds men 80
Meridian 64
Meridian dropped its fifth game of the season Monday night.
Meridian (3-5) fell in a hole early as several turnovers allowed Hinds to jump out to a double-digit lead at 30-13. However, Meridian was able to make a little headway as it only trailed 41-29 at halftime.
Meridian was able to gain some momentum in the second half as it rallied to pull within three points of Hinds with little more than seven minutes left in the contest. However, it was to be short lived as the Hinds would again stretch its lead to double digits to close out the Eagles 80-64.
"I thought our defensive transition got bad," said Meridian coach George Brooks. "We were giving up easy lay-ups and our guards started settling for jumpers."
Meridian was led by Rashad Robinson's team-high 19 points. Emmanuel Donald also chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Deionte Dean had six points and 12 rebounds.
Hinds was led by Chris Wallace with a game-high 21 points.
Meridian resumes play Dec. 1 at home against Wallace-Selma.
