From staff reports

Meridian Community College coach Hilary Allen said he would have preferred to play someone other than rival East Mississippi in his team’s first game in the MACJC State Tournament.

Lucky for Allen, his Lady Eagles were up to the challenge.

MCC got a game-high 26 points out of All-American NaDosha Strickland and the Lady Eagles pulled away in the second half to top EMCC 78-64 in a quarterfinal round game in the state tourney at Itawamba.

“First day of the tournament … all the nerves and butterflies, hey, it was tough,” Allen said after his nationally-ranked team improved to 22-4 on the season.

“It was a really good win for us. Scooba played very well in the first half … we didn’t really start to pull away until probably the 10-minute mark.”

Allen said former Meridian High School standout Shaurice Miller was tough to handle early, scoring 14 of her team-best 21 points for EMCC in the first half.

In addition to Strickland’s 26 points, MCC got 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds from Zirconia Hopkins and 17 points from freshman Tiara Parker.

The Lady Eagles led 31-25 at halftime.

MCC’s women are in action again this afternoon, taking on Southwest Mississippi in a semifinal contest at 1:30. EMCC’s women fell to 11-14.

The MCC men are also in action in the semis tonight, as the Eagles will face the nation’s fifth-ranked team and host Itawamba at 7:45 p.m.

The men’s and women’s championship games are Thursday.

— Rocky Higginbotham