Women's Basketball | 3/2/2017 12:33:00 AM
ELLISVILLE – The No. 14 Jones County Junior College Lady Bobcats will play for the state championship on Thursday.
The Lady Bobcats built up a 24-point lead with just less than seven minutes to play and held off Hinds, 74-64, here Wednesday at A.B. Howard Gymnasium in the MACJC Tournament.
The Lady Bobcats will meet Southwest at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday for the women's championship. Southwest outscored Copiah-Lincoln 10-1 over the final two minutes of play and surprised the Wolfpack, 53-50.
The Lady Bobcats, 24-1, wil also play on March 7 in round of the Region 23 Tournament.
Jones forced 28 turnovers as they won their 19
th straight game in the MACJC semifinals.
JCJC jumped out to a 10-2 lead with 7:05 left in the first quarter as
Nique Cherry (Heidelberg) converted a 3-point play. JCJC led 15-6 after the first quarter.
Zyaire Ewing made a 3-point play with 7:38 left in the second quarter and cut the JCJC lead to 17-13.
Alexis Tolefree (Conway, Arkansas) scored with 14 seconds left to cap a 16-4 run and give Jones a 33-17 halftime lead.
The Lady Bobcats continued the rally in the second half and took a 49-26 lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter when
Myyah West (Prentiss) scored on a putback. Jones led 50-30 after three quarters.
JCJC's longest lead came when West scored off an assist by
Tatyana Lofton (Madison-Ridgeland Academy) to make it 61-37 with 6:48 left.
But Hinds would get back to within 66-52 with 4:02 to play when Octavia Barnes converted a three-point play. The Lady Bulldogs would get as close as 73-64 with 45.1 seconds left when Zyaire Ewing scored.
Myyah West had 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Cherry had 14 points and 17 rebounds.
Alexis Tolefree (Conway, Arkansas) had 17 points.
Tolefree, Lofton and
Zan Ratcliffe (West Jones) had 4 assists each and Cherry had 4 steals.
Barnes had 14 points and Areleatha Gipson added 11 for Hinds, 19-6.
The Lady Bobcats were 25-of-79 from the field, including 3-of-16 from 3-point range, for 32 percent. JCJC was 21-of-31 from 3-point range.
Hinds was 22-of-66, including 7-of-22 from the 3-point line, for 33 percent. The Lady Bulldogs made all of their 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Hinds was 13-of-20 from the free throw line.
JCJC outrebounded Hinds, 53-51. The Lady Bobcats committed 18 turnovers.
Wednesday's game
Ellisville
A.B. Howard Gymnasium
WOMEN
Jones County 74, Hinds 64
Hinds (19-6) 6 11 13 34 – 64
Jones County (25-1) 15 18 17 24 – 74
HINDS (64) – Octavia Barnes 14, Areleatha Gipson 11, Zyaire Ewing 8, Rickera Martin 8, Ernesha Chatman 7, Twila Hill 6, Hillary Kemp 4, Kristy Armwood 2, Alisha Fortenberry 2, Isheer Davis 2, Kaletreon Baker 0, Olivia Jordan 0, Adriana Kemp 0.
JONES COUNTY (74) –
Myyah West 18,
Alexis Tolefree 17,
Nique Cherry 14,
Tatyana Lofton 8,
Kira Bonner 7,
Kyle Felton 7,
Zan Ratcliffe 3,
K.K. Tassin 0,
Juliet Esadah 0.
2017 MACJC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Tournament Schedule
Ellisville
A.B. Howard Gymnasium
WOMEN
Monday's results
Game 1, Southwest 60, Itawamba 52
Game 2, Copiah-Lincoln 60, East Mississippi 59
Game 3, Jones County 70, Holmes 50
Game 4, Hinds 78, Northeast 67 (OT)
Wednesday's results
Game 5, Southwest 53, Copiah-Lincoln 50
Game 6, Jones County 74, Hinds 64
Thursday, March 2
Game 7, 5:30 p.m., Championship, Jones County vs. Southwest
