FULTON – Jones County Junior College came up short in semifinal action in the MACJC Women's Basketball Tournament.
But the Lady Bobcats are still in the mix for a Region 23 Tournament title.
JCJC could not overcome a cold-shooting first half and dropped a 58-48 decision to homestanding Itawamba here Wednesday night at the Davis Event Center.
JCJC, 19-6, will now focus on the Region 23 Tournament, which will be played March 2-5 at Mississippi College.
The Lady Bobcats will play on March 2 vs. a team to be determined and at a time to be announced. The official tournament bracket should be release on Friday.
Itawamba, 20-5, will meet East Central at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the MACJC championship game. East Central took its first lead in the final minute of the game and defeated Copiah-Lincoln 65-61 in Wednesday's other semifinal contest.
Lady Indians 58, Lady Bobcats 48
Points were tough to come by for most of the game.
ICC held a 10-6 lead with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter. But JCJC got four straight points from Wendion Bibbins and Tatyana Lofton hit a jumper with 11 seconds showing to give JCJC a 12-10 lead after the first quarter.
The Lady Bobcats would take their longest lead of the evening at 17-14 with 3:52 left in the second quarter when Myyah West made a free throw.
Leading 20-19 in the final minute of the half, ICC got a 3-pointer from Jabria Pounds with 22 seconds left and a steal and a layup by Pounds with seven seconds remaining and took a 25-19 halftime lead.
JCJC was just 4-of-22 from the field in the first half for 18 percent. ICC was not much better, making 8-of-32 shots for 25 percent.
The Lady Indians ran the lead out to 36-22 with 5:58 left in the third quarter when Ieysha Mays made a layup.
But JCJC battled back and outscored the Lady Indians 10-2 the rest of the quarter. Bibbins' basket at the buzzer trimmed the lead to 38-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
But ICC scored the first six points of the final quarter and went ahead 44-32 with 6:30 to play on a 12-foot jumper by Marlee Hatcher. Lofton's basket at 4:59 got the Lady Bobcats back within 46-37 with 5:00 to play.
However, the Lady Indians scored six straight points and took its longest lead of the game at 52-37 with 3:03 left when Erika Toney hit a 10-footer. The closest JCJC would get after that was 55-46 with 25.6 seconds left when Hanah Lott made two free throws.
Bibbins had another 'double-double' with15 points and 15 rebounds for Jones. Lofton added 12 points. Bibbins, Lott and Zan Ratcliffe had two assists each and Lott had two steals.
Hatcher led ICC with 16 points, Pounds added 13 and Toney finished with 11.
The Lady Bobcats were 15-of-47 from the field (2-of-16 from 3-point range) for 32 percent. They were 16-of-23 from the free throw line.
ICC was 19-of-57 from the floor (1-of-11 from 3-point range) for 33 percent. They were 19-of-30 from the free throw line.
The Lady Indians outrebounded JCJC, 40-38. The Lady Bobcats committed 25 turnovers, compared to 16 for ICC.
 
MACJC Tournament
Fulton
Davis Event Center
WOMEN
Wednesday's game
Itawamba 58, Jones County 48
JONES COUNTY (19-6) – Wendion Bibbins 15, Tatyana Lofton 12, Hanah Lott 9, Myyah West 5, Ashailee Brailey 5, Kanisha Tharpe 2, Aliyah Bell 0, Zan Ratcliffe 0.
ITAWAMBA (20-5) – Marlee Hatcher 16, Jabria Pounds 13, Erika Toney 11, Ieysha Mays 9, Alontra Tucker 5, Treasure Evans 2, Grace Elliott 2, Aaliyaha Thornton 0, Asia Partlow 0, Raylin Starks 0, Julianna Garner 0.
Jones County           12  7 13 16 – 48
Itawamba                  10 15 13 20 – 58
 
MACJC TOURNAMENT
Itawamba Community College
Fulton
Davis Event Center
WOMEN
Tuesday's results
Copiah-Lincoln 75, Northwest 68
East Central 72, East Mississippi 68
Itawamba 58, Southwest 52
Jones County 69, Holmes 58
Wednesday's results
East Central 65, Copiah-Lincoln 61
Itawamba 58, Jones County 48
Thursday's game
Championship, East Central vs. Itawamba, 6 p.m.