Frustration was visible on the face of Meridian Community College women’s basketball coach Jocelyn McGilberry.

She wanted the win badly for her players, who had just one victory entering Monday night’s matchup against Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. At times during the fourth quarter, it looked like the Lady Eagles would come out on top. When MCC’s LaShonda Cousin hit a game-tying free throw with 26 seconds left in regulation to notch the score at 58-58, hope stayed alive.

But with last possession, MGCCC took it down to the court, dribbled and moved the ball around, then found an open Jasmine Nettles underneath the basket. As time expired, Nettles sank the easy bucket as time expired, giving the Lady Bulldogs a 60-58 win.

“I’m very proud of my girls,” McGilberry said. “They played hard from beginning to end. This is probably one of the best games they’ve played (all season). They executed well offensively. There’s nothing negative I can say.”

MCC trailed 42-37 entering the final period, but an offensive surge, led by Andriel Moss — who scored 11 of her 22 points in the fourth — helped the Lady Eagles jump ahead 46-45 at the 6:25 mark and eventually build a 49-45 lead with 5:37 remaining. The Lady Bulldogs, who were held to just eight points in the third quarter, finally woke up from their offensive slumber and outpaced MCC 15-9 in the finale 5:08 of the game.

After jumping out to a 17-14 lead after one quarter, MCC went cold offensively and tallied just seven points in the second period as MGCCC jumped out to a 34-24 lead at intermission. Though she was proud of her young team for fighting back, McGilberry said games like Monday night’s will teach her players how each quarter is important.

“(This game) teaches them that you have to put it on the line from beginning to end,” McGilberry said. “We are young, and we are building, and we are going to get better, but it teaches them that you can’t relax for one minute. You have to play from beginning to end. I think we did relax a couple of times in this match, but we talked about it at halftime and came out and played an excellent second half.”

Moss’ 22 was a game-high, and former Meridian High School standout Kashari Gordon added 14 points. Adrianna James chipped in with nine points.

“She played extremely well,” McGilberry said of Moss. “She’s an excellent kid and has potential out of this world, but she just doesn’t realize what potential she has (yet).”

MCC fell to 1-8, 0-2 on the season.

MGCCC 90, MCC MEN 75

The MCC men didn’t find much luck as MGCCC ran away with a 15-point decision in men’s action on Monday night.

Javontay Rogers led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points, and Denarrius Gray followed with 12 points. Freshman Tevin Smith also chipped in with 11 points off the bench.

MCC (4-4, 0-2) returns to action Friday against Itawamba Community College

MCC’s Robby Atkinson contributed to this report.