Lady Lions fall just short in comeback attempt at Northwest Mississippi in conference opener

SENATOBIA -- The EMCC Lady Lions' comeback attempt in their conference opener fell just short with a 61-59 road setback at Northwest Mississippi during Monday night's MACCC women's basketball action played at Howard Coliseum.

The EMCC women recovered nicely from an early 11-0 deficit when reigning all-conference guard Dukiaha Jones proceeded to score all 10 of the Lady Lions' first-quarter points. After being down by as many as 12 points in the opening 10 minutes of play and trailing by nine points late in the second quarter, the visitors used a 9-1 run at the end of the half to cut the deficit to a single point by halftime.

The Lady Lions maintained the momentum coming out of intermission by taking their first lead of the game (29-27) on Micaiah Satcher's jumper followed by a Jones free throw to open the second half. The home-standing Rangers quickly reclaimed the advantage and then went up by five points (45-40) late in the third quarter before Satcher's three-pointer made it a two-point game (45-43) heading to the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Following a pair of ties to open the fourth quarter, Dekyra Mitchell's two treys keyed an 8-0 Northwest run that put the Rangers back on top, 55-47, midway through the period. Later in the quarter, Northwest continued to hold a seven-point (57-50) advantage with two minutes left in the contest.

The Rangers helped make things interesting with critical miscues down the stretch. After capitalizing on Northwest's untimely turnovers by converting all six free throws during that span, the Lady Lions managed to even the score at 59-59 on Jones' three-pointer with just under a minute remaining.

EMCC's comeback attempt continued when Jones later stole an inbounds pass following a Northwest timeout. The Lady Lions came up empty on the ensuing possession, however, and Northwest post player Alorian Story came through in the clutch by capping her 23-point, 19-rebound performance with an inside backet with 14.4 seconds left to play.

With one final opportunity to possibly win or extend the contest, the Lady Lions could neither connect on a challenged runner in the lane nor with a potential game-winner from behind the three-point arc during the game's final possession.

Jones, who previously scored a career-high 28 points during the season's initial EMCC-Northwest meeting last month in Scooba, again led EMCC with 23 points in Monday's rematch. Satcher finished with 18 points for the Lady Lions.

Along with Story's double-double, Mitchell and Layla Hampton also scored in double figures for Northwest with 19 and 10 points, respectively.    

Coach Isaiah Butler's EMCC Lady Lions will look to get back on the winning track by playing host to Copiah-Lincoln on Thursday (Jan. 15) on the Scooba campus. A 5:30 p.m. women's game will precede a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's newly renovated Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.