January 19, 2018
The East Central Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams went on the road after a week off due to the winter weather and dropped a pair of MACJC South Division games at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson Thursday, Jan. 18.
The Co-Lin Lady Wolves won the women’s game 86-67, while the Wolves followed with a 97-74 win over the ECCC Warriors.
The ECCC Warriors and Lady Warriors were last in action a week ago at Meridian Community College after their games with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 16, were postponed due to the winter weather in the area.
In the opener in Mullen Gymnasium on the Co-Lin campus, the ECCC Lady Warriors dropped their third straight game after opening the season with eight wins. The loss dropped East Central to 8-3 overall and 1-2 in South Division play. The Co-Lin Lady Wolves improved to 11-1 overall and 2-1 in league play.
Co-Lin blew the women’s game open with a big fourth period, outscoring East Central 28-10 in the final 10 minutes. The Lady Warriors kept the game close in the first half, outscoring Co-Lin 22-19 in the second period to only trail 36-34 at the half and then closing the gap to 58-57 after three periods.
The Lady Warriors turned the ball over 22 times in the loss, while only shooting 36 percent from the floor and 61 percent from the charity stripe. ECCC also lost the battle on the boards, 49-39.
Freshman guards Tamirra Haskin of Laurel and Diamond Wraggs of Louisville led the Lady Warriors with 16 points each, while sophomore guard Autumn Taylor of Newton added 10. Freshman guard Sharan Turner out of East Ascension in Gonzales, La., had eight rebounds to lead ECCC.
In the second game, the Co-Lin Wolves snapped East Central’s seven-game winning streak with a 97-74 win. The Warriors last loss came back on Nov. 13, 2017.
East Central took an early seven point lead six minutes into the contest, before Co-Lin went on a run that would eventually give the Wolves a 10-point 52-42 lead at halftime. Co-Lin would pull away in the second half for the 23-point win.
For the game, the Wolves shot 60 percent from the floor to East Central’s 43 percent. Co-Lin also held an advantage in rebounds and produced 11 steals against the Warriors. Co-Lin dropped in 15 three-point shots for the night.
Freshman guard Roti Ware of Morton again led East Central with a game-high 27 points. It was the eighth straight game that Ware scored in double figures. He has scored more than 20 points in seven of those eight games, averaging 25 points over that span. Sophomore guard Thurston McCarty of Quitman with 14 and sophomore forward Cameron Diggs (Mobile, Ala., Blount) with 13 were the only other Warriors in double figures. Diggs had a game-high nine rebounds. Six Wolves scored in double digits in the Co-Lin win.
East Central’s overall record fell to 8-4. The Warriors are 2-1 in MACJC South Division play. Co-Lin improved to 11-1 overall and 2-1 in league play.
The ECCC games with Gulf Coast will be played on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in Brackeen-Wood Gym on the Decatur campus. The Warriors and Lady Warriors will remain at home on Monday, Jan. 22, to host Pearl River Community College. Game times are 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
ECCC will travel to Ellisville on Thursday, Jan. 25, to face Jones County Junior College. Women’s action is at 5:30 p.m. and the men follow at 7:30 p.m.
All home basketball games can be heard on WKOZ Cruisin 98.3 or via audio stream and live stream video at www.eccc.edu/eccc-media.
