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Meridian Community College's Shaquillia Manuel sails by the goal as sh . k h . e srn s a s ot agarnst East Central Community College . Eagles split conference opener: Paula Merritt/ The Meridian star Thursday night.

By Tony Tsoukalas The Meridian Star

on a positive note.

The Lady Eagles did not disappoint, rallying behind six double-digit scorers to top East.Central 92-65. Vic– toria Stewart led MCC with 19 points to go along with eight assists on the game. Kristen Sampson followed with 18 points and was joi.ned in double digits by M1aya Crowder (15 points) Shaquillia Manuel (13 ' po!nts), Londyn Thomas (10 pomts) and Feleshia lvalters (10 points) . "That's what I tried to build the whole time " McGilberry said. "We are a running team, transition offense and defense. They pretty much showed it tonight. We only have seven players, so we have to utilize them." The Lady Eagles raced to an early lead , going on an 8- 2 run to begin the game. McGilberry srut. the transi– tion has been effortless so far. "I put her in that position one day at practice and she did exactly what she was supposed to do," McGilberry said. "She does everything we her to do." MCC (6-1, 1-0) will host Hinds on Monday, while ECCC (5-4, 0.1) will travel to Pearl River. East Central (men) 71 Meridian 69 Trae Dunson was unable to hit on a potential game– winning three-pointer as regulation ended and the Meridian men's basketball team fell to East Central, 71- See HooPs on page 82 --

Meridian Community Col– lege opened up it's Missis– s ippi Association of Commu– nity and Junior Colleg es confere nce schedule with a split against East Central The Lady Eagles started t he doubleheader with a 92- 65 win over Lady War riors before ECCC hung on for a 71-69 win in the men s game. Meridian (women) 92 East Central 65 players on her r oster Meridian CommunitY Col– lege women's basketball coach Jocelyn McGilberry knew she needed a s trong performance from h er entire team if the MCC was going to begin its conference s late Community College at Graham Gymnasium Thursday night. With only seven active HOOPS from page BJ Meridian outran the LadyWarriors on offense and capitalized on points off of turnovers to eventually push the lead to 45-27 at the half. MCC didn't slow down in the second half either, as Stewart erupted for seven points early to send the Lady Eagles on a 14-0 run and take a commanding 69- 37lead with 14:43 left to play in the game. With transfer point guard Kandice Sims held out due to unfinished p· tper– - work,-Stewart has been moved from shootingguard to the point this season.

. . Paula Merritt I The Meridian Star Mendran Community College's Londyn Thomas tries to pass the b~ll away as she loses her footing against East Central Commu– nrty College Thursday night.

69 Thursday night.

the victory.

Trailing 71-67 with less then a minute, Donald King drove in the lane to cut the lead to 71-69. After a defensive stop on East Central's next time up the court, King drew a foul to put him at the line for a chance to tie the game with 46.7 second left to play. However, the freshman guard was unable to sink either of his two free throws. The Eagles (1-5, 0.1) got a final opportunity with 23 second left to play, but Dunson's last– second shot from the right side of the arch found iron and the War– riors (5-4, 1-0) held on for

'Things weren't going our way early," first year ECCC head coach Robert Thompson said. "I knew we'd find a way and our kids just made something of it." Jacques]ohnsonled the Warriors with a game– high 26 points while Will Sheriff led the Eagles with 19. "We were trying to run

the turkey off him," Thompson said of Johnson "He was

exhausted down the stretch, but he's been one of our leaders all year. We expect that from him. He's just a big player for us."

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