CLINTON — Meridian Community College may have dropped a couple of matchups to its opponent in the first round of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament, but the Lady Eagles also gained plenty of valuable knowledge by getting to play those two regular-season contests against Southern Shreveport.

Unfortunately, that knowledge didn’t translate into a win for MCC here Monday afternoon.

Shana Carmack hit both ends of a one-and-one free throw situation with 21.6 seconds left to put Southern Shreveport ahead, and Meridian couldn’t produce the game-winner at the other end in a 69-68 loss at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College.

“We knew what they were going to try to do … we knew their personnel,” MCC coach Hilary Allen said of his opponent. “We knew they weren’t very strong inside … but we didn’t keep pounding it in there when we should have and it seemed like we kept leaving their shooters open all afternoon. We just didn’t get it done.”

The loss, which ended Meridian’s year at 17-11, was brutal for Allen. He watched his team commit 26 turnovers and dig itself a 12-point hole, then he watched his team rally behind sophomore post player Danielle Cooper and a second-half burst.

Cooper, who finished with game-highs of 24 points and 18 rebounds, had 15 points in the first half when the Lady Eagles were down 34-28.

But Southern Shreveport quickly pushed that lead to double digits in the second half, and the Lady Jaguars were ahead 43-36 when Cooper went down with an apparent ankle injury with 13:13 left.

Former Clarkdale standout Carmelita Naylor took up the scoring slack for Meridian while Cooper was out, however. Naylor hit a 3-pointer at the 12:43 mark, and she scored all nine of her points during a 5-minute stretch that got the Lady Eagles within 45-43.

Cooper came back in with a little more than 10 minutes remaining, and MCC continued its push. Holly Dial hit a 3-pointer at the 9:16 mark that gave Meridian just its second lead of the game, then the squads swapped the lead for the next 4 minutes.

Eight straight points by Meridian, including a Cooper basket and a length-of-the-floor assist to Courtney Gordon, turned a 58-56 deficit into a 64-58 lead with 3:09 remaining.

The Lady Eagles still appeared in control, up 68-64 with less than a minute remaining. But Whitney Beavers nailed a 3-pointer with 47 ticks left to pull the Lady Jaguars within 68-67, and MCC fouled on a rebound attempt after a 2-on-1 break resulted in a missed layup with 21 seconds remaining.

Carmack calmly sank both free throws at the other end for Southern Shreveport, and neither of MCC’s shots in the last eight seconds — one of which was blocked — could find the net.

Beavers finished with 17 points and Lanita Collins had 13 for the Lady Jags.

In addition to Cooper’s 24, MCC got 11 points and six rebounds from Carla Latham and a hard-earned 10 points and four steals from Holly Dial.

“They were all over Holly,” Allen said. “They were really physical out on the perimeter and were all over her and pushing her coming up the court. They didn’t let us get anything going from the outside, and we quit taking it down inside when we shouldn’t have.

“Carmelita Naylor came in and gave us a spark and some points in the few minutes she played,” Allen said. “But we just didn’t … it’s a tough, tough loss.”