East Central Community College’s Lady Warriors qualified for post-season play following their 81-70 win over home-standing Pearl River Community College Monday night coupled with Gulf Coast’s 75-63 setback to Southwest. 

With the win, the EC women improved to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in the MACJC South Division. The Lady Warriors clinched fourth place and a spot in the MACJC State Tournament, scheduled Feb. 22-25, 2010, at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba.  

Co-Lin leads the South at 11-0, followed by Jones County and Southwest, each with 8-3 marks. The Lady Bulldogs dropped to 4-8, followed by Hinds at 2-9 and Pearl River, 1-10. The top four finishers qualify for post-season. 

Sophomore Danielle Cole of Philadelphia paced EC with 26 points and seven rebounds in the win over Pearl River.

Also scoring were Hannah Lee of Leake Academy, 11; Yolanda Jones of Lake, 10; Shantel Neely of Searcy (Ark.) High School, nine; Sierra Croff of Newton County, seven; Demetria Slocum of Bradford High School in Starke, Fla.; Xenobia Lavender of Noxapater, four; Shanequa Bufkin, three, and Quentinette Odom, two, both from Scott Central; and Sharae Piques of Olive Branch, two.

Kenyatta Epps poured in 20 points to lead the Lady Wildcats, who fell to 7-15 overall.

EC, which earlier clipped the Lady Wildcats by a slim 84-83 margin in overtime, led 39-28 at the break.

In the men’s game, Pearl River broke open a close contest at halftime to win 70-58.

Jasper Bronson, a freshman from Forest Hill, pumped in 14 points to lead EC, which dropped to 5-16 overall and 1-10 in league play.

Other scorers were Kenneth Thomas of Jackson Provine, 12; Steve Edwards, 11, Antonio Grace, eight, and Keondre Hodges, seven, all products of Newton High School; Kendall Jackson of Columbus, four; and Jonathan McLenden, a product of Alief Hastings High School in Houston, Texas, two.

Rod Little had 16 points to lead the division-leading Wildcats, who improved to 19-4 and 9-2. The other top three teams are Jones County (8-3), Hinds (7-4) and Gulf Coast (7-5).

Pearl River led 26-23 at the break. The Warriors were edged 59-54 by the Wildcats earlier in the season.

The Lady Warriors and Warriors host Jones County Junior College Thursday in the regular season finale, which is also Sophomore Appreciation Night. The women’s game begins at 6 p.m. and will be followed by the men’s contest at 8 p.m. in the Brackeen-Wood Physical Education Building.