PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast spent a lot of time this week focusing on themselves ahead of the NJCAA Region 23 Second Round women's basketball showdown against LSU Eunice.
"We've been working on executing and trying to get the shot we want," Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams said. "We don't want to be forced into anything."
The Bulldogs earned the 12th seed in the expanded region tournament, and they'll face the fifth-seeded Bengals on Wednesday. Tipoff in Eunice, La., is set for 6 p.m. The game will be streamed at https://athletics.lsue.edu/watch, a pay-per-view site, and visiting fans are limited to a short list Gulf Coast is providing to LSU-E.
The two teams met two years ago in the region quarterfinals. Gulf Coast won that meeting 81-74 in Clinton on the way to a spot in the finals.
"Defense is what makes us go, so we want to communicate what we're in on missed shots and made shots," Adams said. "Our main focus is to limit our turnovers and we want to outrebound LSU-E."
Gulf Coast finished 5-9 overall and 4-9 in the MACCC South. LSU Eunice cruised to the Louisiana Community Colleges Athletics Conference title, but got beaten 76-64 by Delgado on March to snap a 37-game conference win streak. The Bengals finished the regular season with a 16-3 record. It will be their first game against Mississippi competition this season.
All 19 Region 23 teams qualified for the tournament, with three first-round games played Monday. The winner of Wednesday's game advances to play the Meridian-East Central winner on April 5.
The quarterfinals are April 5, with the semifinals and finals being at their traditional Mississippi College site on April 8-9.
NJCAA Region 23 Playoffs
First Round
Monday, March 29
(Higher seed hosts)
No. 16 Mississippi Delta 70, No. 17 Hinds 50
No. 15 Baton Rouge 68, No. 18 Southern-Shreveport 49
No. 14 Northwest Mississippi 72, No. 19 Northeast Mississippi 61
Second Round
Wednesday, March 31
(Higher seed hosts)
No. 16 Delta winner at No. 1 Jones, 6 p.m.
No. 15 Baton Rouge at No. 2 Coahoma, 6 p.m.
No. 14 Northwest at No. 3 Itawamba, 6 p.m.
No. 13 East Central at No. 4 Meridian, 6 p.m.
No. 12 Gulf Coast at No. 5 LSU Eunice, 6 p.m.
No. 11 Copiah-Lincoln at No. 6 East Mississippi, 6 p.m.
No. 10 Holmes at No. 7 Southwest, 6 p.m.
No. 9 Delgado at No. 8 Pearl River, 6 p.m.
For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
BY: Don Hammack
Sports Information Director
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College