Meridian sweeps past East Central

Meridian- It was good to be a Meridian Eagle Tuesday night. Both the men and women's team came away with a victory over the visiting Warriors of East Central Community College. The Lady Eagles started the night off with a 61-46 win, and the Eagles followed their lead, taking the second game of the night 87-82.

The first half between the Lady Eagles and Lady Warriors was about as evenly matched as possible. Both teams swapped the lead back and forth in the first-quarter ending in a 14-14 tie. They would continue to trade punches to finish off the half with East Central taking a 1 point lead into the locker room at halftime 29-28.

The Lady Eagles would start to pull away in the third quarter, taking a 5 point lead into the final quarter, 42-37. The Lady Warriors would try and make a run led by Jariyah Covington and KeiMoya Walker, who both finished the night with 9 points, but the Lady Eagles were just too much on this night. The Lady Eagles would run away with the game behind a game-high 21 points from Sidney Sims and 13 points from Berniya Hardin. LaChrisha Williams and Ariana Hart would finish the night with 8 points apiece.

The Lady Eagles improve to (5-9,2-3) with the 61-46 win. The Lady Warriors fall to (6-8,1-4) with the loss.

Next on the schedule for the Lady Eagles in a trip to Wesson, MS, this Thursday to take on the Lady Wolves of Co-lin. The tip-off for that contest is set for 5:30 pm.

The men's team would look to follow the Lady Eagles lead with a win over the visiting Warriors. Both sides would trade the lead back and forth for the first half with the Warriors taking a 3 point lead into the break 42-29.

The Warriors would maintain that slim margin for most of the second half led by a 31 point performance from Kareem Thompson. With under 1 minute to play, the Warriors would make two costly mistakes. The first came on a foul against Justin Brown with 40 seconds to play and the Warriors leading by four. Brown would sink both free throws to cut the lead to 2. On the ensuing inbound, the Warriors would throw the ball away, and Talvyn Dean would take the steal, get a lay-up and the foul. When he completed the old fashioned three-point play, the Eagles had a 1 point lead with 30 seconds to play. After a missed shot by the Warriors, Alvarez Powell would grab the rebound and get fouled. Powell added some cushion to the Eagles lead by sinking both free throws.

The Eagles would finish the game with four players in double figures. Justin Brown led the way with a team-high 21 points, followed by Dontae Jackson with 20. Alvarez Powell and Darryl Jordan rounded out the scoring with 12 points apiece.

The Eagles get their first MACJC South Division win and improve to (6-8,1-4), while the Warriors fall to the same record(6-8,1-4).

The Eagles will travel to Co-lin Thursday night for a 7:30 tip-off against the Wolves.