the home-standing Lady Lions held the advantage for most of the game until the final minutes. EMCC led, 19-13, at the end of the opening quarter and held on for a four-point (38-34) halftime lead despite having three starters in first-half foul trouble.
Upon briefly losing the lead after Holmes scored the first six points to begin the second stanza, the EMCC women went on a 12-2 run to take an eight-point lead that held up heading into the final period. Sophomore all-state guard Tyeisha Juhan then opened the fourth quarter with a three-point play followed by a steal and resulting basket to extend the margin to 13 points (62-49).
With Holmes' Kamelia Lacy scoring 10 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter, the Lady Bulldogs chipped away at EMCC's lead throughout the final eight minutes of the contest. They first scored 10 unanswered points – six by Lacy – to pull to within a basket (64-62) by the 4:40 mark. A 3-pointer by Ja'Breonia Veasey later knotted the score at 68-all with three minutes remaining in the game.
The visitors owned the advantage during the final minute of play. After Lacy's basket gave Holmes a 71-70 edge, EMCC tied the score on Kaisah Lucky's 1-of-2 effort from the charity stripe. Lacy then rebounded her own miss and sank both free throws with 30 seconds left to put the Lady Bulldogs on top for good. Veasey's pair of made charity tosses with 14.8 seconds remaining made it a four-point game (75-71). The Lady Lions answered with a quick Kayla Rogers bucket to cut the deficit in half with 6.9 ticks left. Following a 1-of-2 trip to the line by Holmes' Aneisha Evans, Lucky's potential game-tying 3-pointer at the final buzzer was off target.
Dropping to 8-7 overall and 3-3 within the division, head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions were led by Juhan (27 points) and Lucky (21) combining for 48 of the team's 73 points.
Improving to 10-6 overall and 4-2 in division play, Holmes was paced by Veasey's 19 points off the bench.
David Rosinski | Sports Information Director
East Mississippi Community College