ELLISVILLE – The 16th-ranked Jones County Junior College Lady Bobcats never trailed and whipped East Central 94-73 here Monday night during "Sophomore Night" at A.B. Howard Gymnasium.
JCJC is now 21-1 overall and 12-1 in the MACJC South Division. The Lady Bobcats own a one-game lead over Copiah-Lincoln in the division and can clinch the title outright with a win on Thursday at Meridian.
JCJC will host the MACJC Tournament Feb. 27-March 2 because the Bobcat men won the division.
The Lady Bobcats will play on Feb. 27 in the tournament. An official tournament bracket will be released on Friday.
Against East Central, Jones jumped out to an 11-2 lead when
Nique Cherry (Heidelberg) scored on a putback with 7:25 left in the first quarter. The Warriors got within 15-11 on a LaNeisha Jeans layup with 3:56 left. A
Myyah West (Prentiss) layup gave Jones a 22-15 lead after the opening quarter.
Another West layup with 7:00 left in the first half put Jones up, 32-18. An
Alexis Tolefree (Conway, Arkansas) basket gave JCJC a 41-21 lead with 4:11 showing. Tolefree's 3-pointer with 50 seconds left would give the Lady Bobcats a 51-27 edge going into halftime.
JCJC led 57-32 early in the second half, but ECCC would get within 59-46 with 4:47 left in the third quarter on a Curtisha Coleman basket. The Lady Bobcats led 72-54 after three quarters.
Jeans hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter to make it 72-57, but that was as close as the Lady Warriors would get.
The Lady Bobcats would take its longest lead of the game at 90-61 with 3:38 remaining a Cherry basket.
Tolefree led JCJC with 20 points with
Tatyana Lofton (Madison-Ridgeland Academy) and
K.K. Tassin (Terry) adding 16 each. West finished with 14 and Cherry had 12.
The Lady Bobcats were 39-of-71 from the field, including 7-of-17 from 3-point range, for 55 percent. JCJC was 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
Jeans paced the Lady Warriors, 12-10 overall and 6-7 in the division, with 25 points. Autumn Taylor added 17 and Coleman finished with 15.
ECCC was 21-of-66 from the floor, including 7-of-27 from the 3-point line, for 32 percent. The Lady Warriors were 24-of-36 from the free throw line.
Cherry had 11 rebounds, West had 10,
Juliet Esadah (Warri, Nigeria) had eight and
Kyle Felton (Lithonia, Georgia) finished with seven. Tassin had seven assists and Tolefree finished with six. Felton had three blocked shots.
JCJC outrebounded ECCC, 54-31. The Lady Warriors had 18 turnovers, compared to 27 for the Lady Bobcats.
Lady Bobcat sophomores
Lady Bobcat sophomores recognized during Monday's game were
Zan Ratcliffe,
Kyle Felton,
Patrice Tate,
Myyah West,
Tatyana Lofton,
Hayle Lott and
Hanah Lott.
Monday's games
Ellisville
A.B. Howard Gymnasium
WOMEN
Jones County 94, East Central 73
East Central (12-10, 6-7) 15 12 27 19 – 73
Jones County (21-1, 12-1) 22 29 21 22 – 94
EAST CENTRAL (73) – LaNeisha Jeans 25, Autumn Taylor 17, Curtisha Coleman 15, Shantavis Hughes 7, Aniyah Marshall 6, Bryona Stewart 2, Alexus Odom 1, Holly Hendershot 0.
JONES COUNTY (94) – Alexis Tolefree 20,
Tatyana Lofton 16,
K.K. Tassin 16,
Myyah West 14,
Nique Cherry 12,
Kyle Felton 6,
Juliet Esadah 6,
Zan Ratcliffe 4,
Kira Bonner 0,
Patrice Tate 0,
Madison Bishop 0,
Hayle Lott 0.
