East Central Community College’s Autumn Taylor, a Newton High School product, splits a pair of Copiah Lincoln Community College defenders on her way to the basket.

East Central Community College women’s coach Crandal Porter knew that the Co-Lin Community College Lady Wolves were going to be a tough opponent, as they entered Thursday nights contest at Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium in Decatur with a perfect 3-0 record in the MACJC South Division.

 But Porter wasn’t expecting his Lady Warriors to fall 81-64 to the Lady Wolves by game’s end Thursday night.

Porter said a myriad of factors led to his team’s loss. 

“We got out rebounded by 30 (54-24) and we missed 18 free throws, and those two things relate back to toughness. We pride ourselves in our toughness, but we got out-toughed tonight,” Porter said after the game.”Execution-wise, we aren’t where we need to be, and I take responsibility for that. But we will come back and get that corrected.”

The Lady Warriors, who fell to 8-5 overall and 2-2 in division play, were able to keep the game close in the first quarter, but Co-Lin dominated the boards and got numerous second-chance points off of offensive rebounds. The Lady Wolves converted on their offensive possessions to take an early 8-4 lead, but the Lady Warriors wouldn’t lay down and tied the score at 16 at the 2:30 mark in the first quarter. Two 3-point shots sandwiched around two baskets in the paint gave the Lady Wolves a 26-18 lead after the first frame. 

East Central got within two points of tying as the score sat at 36-34 with a little over three minutes left in the first half behind the play of Laneisha Jeans, who collected 10 points in the second period, but Co-Lin kept up the pace offensively and held a 40-36 lead at the halftime break. 

That’s when things went wrong for the Lady Warriors. 

Co-Lin came out hot to start the third quarter and reeled off 15 unanswered points before Jeans sank a trey to make it a 55-39 contest. The best the Lady Warriors could manage was a five-point run midway through the third frame, but the Lady Wolves were just too strong on the boards and led 64-49 after three quarters of play. 

Newton High School product Autumn Taylor went for eight points for East Central in the second half, with six in the final quarter, to extend her streak of double-digit scoring to eleven games, but the Lady Wolves were able to keep converting rebounds into points to take the 81-64 victory. 

Jeans led East Central with 25 points followed by Taylor and Curtisha Coleman, out of Wayne County High School, with 15 points apiece. 

East Central will try to get back into the win column Monday night at Pearl River Community College in a South Division contest. 

A career-high 20 points from sophomore Tonzell Handy of Lanier High School helped the East Central Community College men’s basketball team to a 88-75 win against Copiah-Lincoln Community College on Thursday night at Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium.

The Warriors moved to 2-2 in the south division and 7-6 overall, while Co-Lin dropped to 7-6 on the season and 1-3 in south division play.

Three other Warriors also put up double-digits in the nightcap. Freshman Antonio Clark of Leake Central High School had 19 points, sophomore Jaylon Bardley of New Hope High School with 15 points and Cayman Ruffin of Neshoba Central High School with 11.

The Warriors will be on the road against Pearl River Community College Monday, Jan. 23 in Poplarville before returning home for to host No. 9 nationally ranked Jones County Junior College Thursday, Jan. 26 in Brackeen-Wood Gym. Tipoff for both matchups are set for 7:30 p.m.