Women's Basketball | 3/7/2017 10:56:00 PM
CLINTON – After almost 25 minutes of play, No. 14 Jones County and East Central were all knotted up at 46-46.
But the final 15 minutes told a different story.
JCJC outscored the Lady Warriors 50-24 over that stretch and rolled to a 96-70 decision in the first round of the Region 23 Tournament here Tuesday night at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College.
The Lady Bobcats are now 26-1 and have won 21 straight games.
Jones will now play Itawamba in a 3 p.m. semifinal match on Thursday. ICC whipped Copiah-Lincoln, 76-61. In other first round games, Northeast beat Southwest 64-55 in overtime and Hinds downed Southern University-Shreveport (Louisiana), 75-68. Hinds meets Northeast at 1 p.m. Thursday.
The championship game will be at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The winner of the tournament heads to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament March 20-25 in Lubbock, Texas.
The No. 8 Bobcat men open play at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Region 23 Tournament vs. Holmes.
All games involving JCJC in the tournament will air on
www.jcjc.tv.
Lady Bobcats 96, Lady Warriors 70
Jones took a 17-7 lead with 5:00 left in the first quarter when
Nique Cherry (Heidelberg) scored off an assist by
Kyle Felton (Lithonia, Georgia). East Central cut the lead to 20-15 after the first quarter.
ECCC would take a 26-23 lead with 4:06 to play in the first half when LaNeisha Jeans hit a 3-pointer. The Lady Warriors would lead 34-32 at halftime.
Tatyana Lofton (Madison-Ridgeland Academy) gave JCJC the lead for good with a layup to make it 48-46 with 5:42 to play in the third quarter. After an ECCC free throw,
Alexis Tolefree (Conway, Arkansas) hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Jones ahead, 54-47.
Autumn Taylor would score and cut the lead to 56-54 with 3:14 showing, but Tolefree started an 8-0 run with another 3-pointer. Tolefree punctuated the third quarter when she banked in another 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 70-56.
JCJC outscored the Lady Warriors 38-22 in the third quarter.
The Lady Bobcats poured it on in the final quarter, starting the period on an 18-1 run, and took its longest lead at 88-57 with 4:33 to play when
K.K. Tassin (Terry) made a free throw.
Jones held East Central without a field goal for a stretch of 8:51 of the second half.
Tolefree led JCJC with 24 points, including 17 in the third quarter, while Lofton had 21 points, including 13 in the third quarter.
Myyah West (Prentiss) added 15, while Cherry had 11.
Tolefree had five 3-pointers. West had 10 rebounds, while Cherry and Lofton had 8 rebounds each. Tassin had 6 assists and
Zan Ratcliffe (West Jones) had 5.
Shantavis Hughes topped East Central with 16 points and 7 assists with Taylor and Curtisha Coleman adding 14 points each. Aniyah Marshall added 11 and Jeans had 10.
JCJC was 34-of-70 from the field, including 8-of-19 3-pointers, for 49 percent. Jones was 20-of-32 from the free throw line.
ECCC was 21-of-54 from the floor, including 7-of-22 from beyond the arc, for 39 percent. The Lady Warriors were 21-of-38 from the foul line.
JCJC outrebounded ECCC, 48-37. Jones had 13 turnovers, compared to 19 for the Lady Warriors.
The Lady Warriors end the season at 13-11.
Region 23 Tournament
Tuesday's game
Clinton
A.E. Wood Coliseum
WOMEN
Jones County 96, East Central 70
East Central (13-11) 15 19 22 14 – 70
Jones County (26-1) 20 12 38 26 – 96
EAST CENTRAL (70) – Shantavis Hughes 16, Autumn Taylor 14, Curtisha Coleman 14, Aniyah Marshall 11, LaNeisha Jeans 10, Carisma Thomas 3, Alexus Odom 1, Bryonna Stewart 1, Holly Hendershot 0.
JONES COUNTY (96) –
Alexis Tolefree 24,
Tatyana Lofton 21,
Myyah West 15,
Nique Cherry 11,
K.K. Tassin 9,
Kira Bonner 5,
Madison Bishop 5,
Juliet Esadah 3,
Zan Ratcliffe 2,
Kyle Felton 1,
Hayle Lott 0.
Region 23 Tournament
Clinton
Mississippi College
A.E. Wood Coliseum
WOMEN
Tuesday's results
Game 1, Northeast 64, Southwest 55 (OT)
Game 2, Hinds 75, Southern-Shreveport 64
Game 3, Jones County 96, East Central 70
Game 4, Itawamba 76, Copiah-Lincoln 61
Thursday's games
Game 5, Northeast vs. Hinds, 1 p.m.
Game 6, Jones County vs. Itawamba, 3 p.m.
Friday's game
Game 7, Championship, Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 5:30 p.m.
