December 7, 2021
The East Central Community College Lady Warriors were unable to hand Coahoma Community College their first loss of the 2021-22 season, despite leading by six in the fourth quarter. The Lady Warriors, with a limited roster due to injuries, left it all on the floor on Monday night, Dec. 6, but fell to 4-5 on the year while the Lady Tigers improved to 7-0 after the 68-63 win.
Cori Keats (Philadelphia) had the Lady Warriors rolling in the opening moments as she poured in three, three-pointers in the first five minutes of play to help ECCC build an early eight-point lead. That lead dwindled beginning at the midway point of the first as Coahoma's Tiara Abron hit back with a pair of three-pointers. The high-scoring first quarter ended with Coahoma leading by one, 19-18.
The second quarter saw the Lady Tigers inch out to a six-point lead, but a 5-0 ECCC run from Sylvia Jones (Brighton, Tenn.) kept the Lady Warriors in the contest. The game went back-and-forth for the next several minutes before ECCC fired an 11-0 run sparked by yet another Keats' three-pointer. Shemaiah Smith (Terry) followed with a basket before Mer'Cades Miller (McComb) poured in three straight scores. The scoring burst put the Lady Warriors on top 39-33 in the final minutes of the half with ECCC taking a 41-36 lead into the break.
ECCC's lead grew to eight, the largest of the night, midway in the third as Miller nailed a three-pointer after a Coahoma turnover. Both squads netted 12 points in the third frame, allowing ECCC to take a five-point 53-48 advantage into the final 10 minutes.
The Lady Warriors held that lead for the first part of the fourth, but an ECCC scoring drought allowed the Lady Tigers to go on a 15-0 run that lasted four minutes. With three and half minutes remaining, Coahoma led by nine, 66-57. ECCC buckled down and cut the lead down the three, 66-63, but were just unable to erase the deficit as time expired.
Four Lady Warriors scored in double digits with Wynter Taylor (Dallas, Texas) and Keats leading the way with 12 each. Jones finished with 11 points and a team-high four assists, while Miller added 10 points off the bench. Myeisha Scott (Jackson) crashed the boards for ECCC as she racked up season-high 15 rebounds, with nine of them being offensive boards.
Elishia Wilson led Coahoma with 15 points, while Jeanee Anderson scored 14.
ECCC finished the night shooting 38 percent from the floor, 24 percent from beyond the arc, and a season-high 86 percent (12-of-14) from the free-throw stripe, while Coahoma shot 41 percent from the field, 39 percent from three-point range, and 47 percent from the stripe. The Lady Tigers barely got the best of ECCC on the glass with 42 rebounds to ECCC's 40.
The game wraps up the fall portion of the 2021-2022 season for the Lady Warriors. ECCC is back in action on Monday, January 10 as the team travels to Hinds before returning home on Thursday, January 13 against ICC.
