1982-1986

Lady 'Cats come back for victory By Ricky Sullivan The Meridian Star DECATUR - The Lady Bob– cats of Jones County Junior Col– lege put together an amazing comeback here Thursday night on their way to knocking off homestanding East Central Junior College anq claim a 77-67 overtime win in a South division battle. JCJC upped its record to 6-7 overall, while ECJC fell to 4-6. Both teams have a 2-3 record in the loop. "I'm pleased with the way we played in the second half and overtime, but in the first half we weren't too proud," JCJC coach Richard Rivers said. "We were a rather immature team in that first half and played immature and everything." After JCJC suffered that disastrous first half, the Lady Warriors held a seemingly com– fortable 36-23 lead at intermis– sion, only to have the Lady Bob– cats roar back to take their first lead of the contest, 56-55, with 3: 30 left in the contest, thanks to some poor shooting from the free throw line by the Lady Warriors. "I felt the free throws we miss– ed - we missed three one and one's in a row and then missed the front-end of a two shot foul - would haye made quite a bit of difference," Pace said. "And maybe it would have made a dif– ferent impression on the players -to change the complexion of the game. But we just missed them." The Lady Warriors connected on 15 of 34 shots from the line, while JCJC hit only nine of 22 from the charity stripe. Both teams missed oppor– tunities to win the contest in regulation as the game ended in a 61-61 tie. -

"We saw four different basket– ball teams tonight, " ECJC coach Pace said. "Us and them. We were a different team in the se– cond half and so were they. Just totally opposite. "We've come out like that all year," Pace continued. "At times it looks like the longer we play the more relaxed we get, but we play worse, rather than stay– ing keyed up and ready to play. " The Lady Bobcats then outscored ECJC 16-6, thanks to Tina Simpson's eight points, dur– ing the overtime to claim the hard-fought win. "It seemed that when it really counted, they wanted it more than we did," Pace said. Rivers listed several ingre– dients that contributed to his Lady Bobcats' great comeback and hopes that will help them on down the road. "We started play– ing together, playing defense a little better and working harder," Richards explained. "After being down 13 points at the end of the first half and then outscoring them 13 points in the second half and 10 points in the overtime, you know we did a pretty good job. It was quite a change. "I'm hoping our team might have grown up a little bit in this game and that this could possibly do something for us ," Richards continued. "All we've got left is South division games and a real good effort for 40 minutes is needed for all of them. Anything - less than that, we'll get beat." The Lady Warriors were paced by Mellissa Jimmerson 's 22 points as Barbara Jones and Faye McDonald chipped in 12 and 11 points resepctively. Mellissa McLemore's 22 points paved the way for JCJC. Hope Adams followed with 15, Charlotte Irby tossed in 12 and Simpson finished with 10. ECJC entertains Meridian Junior College Saturday night, while JCJC visits Gulf Coast Tuesday night. Both contests are slated for 6 p.m.

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