January 30, 2018
The East Central Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams continued to struggle in the new year, dropping a pair of MACJC South Division contests to visiting Hinds Community College on Monday evening, Jan. 29.
The Hinds Lady Bulldogs took a hard-earned 73-68 win over the East Central Lady Warriors in the first game of the night in Brackeen-Wood Gym in Decatur.
The Lady Warriors had only six players available for the game due to several suspensions for leaving the bench in a game at Jones County Junior College Jan. 25. ECCC will only have six players available for its next game as well.
Despite the lack of depth and Hinds putting 11 players on the court, East Central stayed with the Lady Bulldogs for the entire 40 minutes.
All six Lady Warriors scored in the contest, led by 19 points from freshman guard Timarra Haskin of Laurel. Freshman forward Whitney Waters of Heidelberg added 16 points and sophomore guard Autumn Taylor of Newton had 15 points, to go with 10 rebounds and six assists.
East Central outrebounded the Lady Bulldogs 46-45.
The loss was the third in a row for ECCC and the sixth out of seven games in January. The Lady Warriors started the season 8-0. East Central is now 9-6 overall and 2-5 in the South Division. The Hinds Lady Bulldogs improved to 12-4 overall and 3-4 in the league.
In the men’s action, the Warriors dropped an 81-72 decision to the Hinds Bulldogs. The difference in the game was at the charity stripe, where Hinds managed 20 of 29 free throws to just 8 of 12 for East Central.
Hinds lead was just one, 37-36, at the half.
Freshman guard Roti Ware of Forest paced the Warriors with 21 points. Sophomore guards Jaquan Dotson of Neshoba Central and Thurston McCarty of Quitman each had 15, while sophomore forward Cameron Diggs of Blount High School in Mobile, Ala., added 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
It was the fifth straight loss for East Central. The Warriors now stand 8-8 overall and 2-5 in division play. The Hinds Bulldogs are 6-8 and 3-4.
The East Central teams hit the road again Thursday, Feb. 1, when they travel to Summit to face Southwest Mississippi Community College at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m.
The ECCC Warriors and Lady Warriors return home on Monday, Feb. 5, to host Meridian Community College at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in Brackeen-Wood Gym in Decatur.
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.
