ALABAMA SOUTHERN Home 87 - 73

MCC (women)             87

Alabama Southern      73

The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles opened the 2011-2012 season with an impressive 87-73 victory over Alabama Southern at Graham Gymnasium Monday night. The Eagles got several huge performances on the offensive end of the floor, but the biggest night belonged to sophomore Chasity Kearney of the green and white. Kearney scored a team-high 25 points to lead the way for the Lady Eagles in the opening game of the season.

“We played well for our first game of the season, but I thought that we got a little tired late in the game,” MCC head coach Hilary Allen said. “We shot the ball very well in the second half and made some things happen. It was a great first game for our team and we had some players with some great nights on both ends of the floor.”

Meridian struggled out of the gate and trailed Alabama Southern 18-15, but the Lady Eagles scored 15 unanswered points to take a 30-18 lead with 10:12 left in the first half. Kearney led the way with during the 15-0 for the Lady Eagles with six points and Norianna Haynes had four points during the scoring spurt for MCC.

Alabama Southern chipped away at the Meridian lead by closing the margin to 40-35 with 3:11 left in the first half, but the Lady Eagles would go another impressive run just before the end of the half. Deidra Hawkins and Kearney each scored a basket to extend the lead to 44-35 with just under a minute to play in the half, but Gelese Lampton added a three-point bucket just before the buzzer to give MCC a 48-35 lead at halftime.

Alabama Southern opened the second half on a small scoring run to close to within five points, but Meridian would run away with the game in the second half to claim the 87-73 victory. Haynes added 15 points and Lampton scored in double figures with 12 points.

The Lady Eagles return to action next Monday at home against Hinds Community College at 6 p.m.