Published: November 03, 2009 11:41 pm      

East Mississippi splits with Jones County in basketball season openers

SCOOBA — The East Mississippi basketball teams split with the defending state champions of Jones County in season-opening action Monday evening at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus. The EMCC women dropped a 70-65 decision in the first contest, while the Lions claimed a 90-84 victory in the nightcap.

  In the opener, the Lady Lions, rated 27th nationally in the preseason NJCAA rankings, were outscored 16-5 over the final 4:34 in falling at home to the Lady Bobcats.

  With a dozen Lady Lion players getting into the scoring column, freshman guard Natalie Tate led the way with 12 points and five assists. Shanteria Tate was the only other EMCC player in double digits with 11 points. Reigning MACJC All-North State forward Martika Hull of Meridian’s Southeast Lauderdale was held to just two points on 1-of-5 shooting and committed five turnovers.

In the nightcap, head coach Mark White’s Lions looked to be cruising to victory by extending their 17-point halftime lead (54-37) to 23 points (62-39) four minutes into the second stanza. Jones County steadily cut away at the deficit, eventually trimming the margin to six points (77-71) with 5:30 left.

  CoCo Ware tied for game-scoring honors with 19 points to go along with six steals and five rebounds to lead five EMCC players in double figures. Chris Brand followed with 15 points and a team-most eight rebounds, while former Meridian High School product Donovan Walker tallied 14 points and six boards in his collegiate debut.