By Staff
COVERED Wallace-Hanceville's Latisha Guy is covered by the press defense of MCC's Ericka Starks, left, and Genice Terry. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Robby Atkinson/Special to The Star
Jan. 25, 2002
The Lady Eagles used some late scoring and great bench play to take a somewhat slim win over Wallace-Hanceville by a final score of 103-87.
After a 30 point performance only two nights ago Ericka Starks had yet another great night off the bench for the Lady Eagles by scoring 26 points and giving MCC a big lift at times.
The Lady Eagles started off fast and furious with a basket from Cnatea Brown and Tijwana Collins to take a quick 4-0 lead in the contest. The Lady Lions responded with a pair of baskets from Amber Terrell to knot the game at 4-4 with lots of time remaining in the first half. Both teams exchanged the lead over next several minutes until Starks drained a basket to give Meridian a 23-18 lead with 11:13 left until the halftime break.
After a turnover by Wallace the Lady Eagles turned up the heat on offense as Genice Terry canned a long three pointer to extend the once small to 26-18 with 9:54 left in the half.
The Lady Lions finally responded to the run and scored a basket from Melissa Bartlettto cut the lead to within six points.
After a pair of free throws by Felicia Washington MCC got a big basket from Nikki Yarbrough to give MCC one of their biggest lead of the first half at 31-20 with 8:56 left in the first. Starks added yet another basket for the Lady Eagles only seconds later followed by a jumper from Eva Lockhart to make the score 36-22 with 6:12 left.
The Lady Eagles followed the basket up with a 10-0 run led by Horner to give MCC a 44-24 lead with 3:44 left in the half. The Lady Lions responded with an even bigger run to trail the Lady Eagles 46-38 at halftime. The scoring run was led by a couple of big shots by Crystal Smith. Wallace opened up the second half right where they left off with a basket from Terrell to draw the Lady Lions to within striking distance at 46-40.
Meridian got some offense from Washington who delivered a basket to put the Lady Eagles back in the lead by eight points. Minutes later the Lady Lions tied the contest behind great defense from Erica Dixon and some timely shooting by Terrell.
The Lady Lions took the lead on the next possession on a basket by Latishia Guy and give Wallace a brief lead at 55-53 with 15:24 left in the second half. The Lady Eagles got another scoring run behind Horner and Starks to get the lead back at 62-57 with 11:42 left in the game.
The Lady Lions never got closer than six points as MCC improved to 19-1 on the season and took the 103-87 win over Wallace-Hanceville.
MCC was led in scoring by Starks with 26 points and Horner followed with 19 points in the win for the Lady Eagles. Collins also chipped in with 17 points for Meridian. Mallorie Kerby got 16 points for the Lady Lions and Bartlett got 14 points in the loss for Wallace. Meridian returns to action Saturday with a Miss-Lou conference game against Southern Shreveport at 2 p.m. at the Ivy Sports Center.