Basketball splits with Wallace-Selma

Meridian - The Eagles cruised to victory over the Lady Patriots of Wallace-Selma 73-54, while the Eagles fell to the Patriots 73-63.

The Lady Eagles jumped to a commanding 22-4 lead to start the first quarter and never trailed. The Lady Patriots made a run at the end of the first to cut the lead to 22-11, but that's as close as they got. By halftime, the Lady Eagles had stretched their lead to 14, 35-21. The Lady Eagles continued scoring and cruised to the 19 point win led by Freshman Mia Moore, who finished with a game-high 18 points and 6 rebounds. Sidney Sims added 16 points, and Yolanda Nelson chipped in 9. The Lady Patriots had two players with 14 points, Amber Richardson and Toniah Foster. Meridian improves to 3-2 on the year and Wallace-Selma drops to 3-4.

Next up the Lady Eagles travel to East Central Community College for a Thanksgiving tournament. First, on Monday, November 25, the Lady Eagles face Coahoma Community College at 11:00 am. Then on Tuesday, they take on LSU-Eunice at 11:00 am.

The men's contest was a back and forth battle to the very end. The first half proved to be a series of runs for each team. The Eagles jumped out to a 7-2 lead only to see Wallace-Selma respond with seven straight points to take the lead 9-7. In the first half, one team would go on a spurt, and then the other would return. The Eagles took a 36-28 lead into halftime. The Eagles would hold that lead for the first 12 minutes of the second half until the Patriots made another run. Capped by back-to-back 3 point baskets, Wallace-Selma tied the game at 51-51. Both teams would go back in forth until Wallace-Selma pulled away at the end with the ten-point win. The Eagles were led by Justin Brown, who had a game-high 27 points and Talvyn Dean, who had 11. Antonio Jones led the Patriots with 21 points, Keaun Samuels, had 15, and Travarrius Carrol, finished with 14. The Patriots improve to 8-0 while the Eagles fall to 4-3.

Merdian will have a long break before returning to the hardwood on Thursday, December 5, when they travel to Bishop State.