ELLISVILLE – Jones College came up just short in a 55-52 loss in the regular season finale to East Central here Thursday night at A.B. Howard Gymnasium.
 
But the Bobcats will continue their season in the Region 23 Tournament.
 
The MACCC uses the Massey Ratings, a computer system which utilizes several factors, such as strength of schedule, to determine the final three teams to participate in the region tournament.
 
Jones was able to qualify for the tournament and will be the No. 12 seed. The Bobcats will go to No. 5 seed Itawamba for a 2 p.m. Saturday game at The Davis Event Center. The winner of that game goes to Coahoma on Monday for a region quarterfinal contest.
 
Jones is 5-20 on the year and ended conference play at 1-13.
 
The Bobcats led ECCC 14-13 after the first quarter and trailed 27-25 at halftime.
 
Jones was down 37-32 midway through the third quarter, but ended the period on an 8-0 run to go up 40-37 entering the final period. Valencia McFall's (St. Martin) jumper gave Jones a 42-37 lead with 7:49 remaining.
 
ECCC then made three straight 3-pointers with Morgan Freeny's trey giving the Warriors a 46-42 lead with 5:57 to play.
 
The Warriors were up 54-48 with just over two minutes to go. Aasia Wilson's (West Jones) free throw cut the lead to 54-52 with 25 seconds left.
 
Miriam Prince's free throw put ECCC ahead 55-52 with 23 seconds to play. Jones then had a chance to tie, but turned the ball over. 
 
The Warriors were fouled, but missed two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to give Jones another chance.
 
Jones missed a 3-pointer, but McFall got the rebound and was fouled on an attempted putback with .4 seconds left. She missed the first free throw and deliberately missed the second, but time expired as the teams battled for the rebound.
 
Wilson had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. La'Genesis Johnson (Choctaw County) just missed a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds. McFall had 17 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.
 
Freeny led all scorers with 18 points and Prince added 16.
 
The Bobcats made 19-of-61 shots for 31 percent, 3-of-12 3-pointers for 25 percent and 11-of-20 free shots for 55 percent. ECCC converted 21-of-54 shots for 46 percent, 10-of-30 from beyond the arc for 33 percent and just 3-of-8 free throws for 38 percent.
 
Jones outrebounded ECCC, 45-34, and outscored them on points in the paint, 30-22.
 
East Central is 18-10 overall and concludes MACCC play at 7-7. They will host Southern-Shreveport at 2 p.m. Saturday in a region tournament opener.