HINDS Home 95 - 80

The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles had to mount a furious comeback in the second half of action Monday night to take a 95-80 victory over Hinds Community College at Graham Gymnasium.  Meridian improved to 2-0 for the season and got another solid offensive night from sophomore Chasity Kearney to lead the way for MCC.  Kearney finished the night with 25 points and 16 rebounds to lead the charge in the second half for the Lady Eagles.

“We played very well in the second half and I am proud of how hard we fought,” said MCC head coach Hilary Allen. “We got some great performances tonight and it was a good home victory early in the season for our team.”

Hinds held the lead at the end of the first half by a score of 46-43, but the Lady Eagles would begin to chip away at the lead in the opening minutes of the second half. MCC took its first lead of the second half with 16:45 left on a 10-0 scoring run to make the score 56-51. Kearney led the charge with a several baskets and one three-point bucket to give Meridian the five-point edge. The Lady Eagles built its lead to ten points later in the half on a pair of long jump shots by Norianna Haynes to make the score 61-51 with 12:23 left in the second half.

Hinds started to slowly make a comeback of its own to cut the score to 72-67 with 9:30 left in the game. Michelle Stewart hit a pair of three-point jumpers in the scoring run for the Lady Bulldogs, but Meridian would eventually find a way to hold on for the victory.

Freshman Gelese Lampton hit a pair of baskets and sophomore Kia Morris added a bucket late in the half to build the Meridian to 82-71 with 7:37 left in the game. Meridian ran away with the rest of the game and forced several turnovers that led to easy baskets to make the final score 95-80.

Lampton ended the game with 17 points and Haynes ended her evening with 14 points. Carmen Smith led the way in scoring for Hinds with 22 points and Stewart ended the game with 18 points. Hinds dropped its record to 0-4 overall for the season.

The Lady Eagles return to action Thursday on the road at Wallace-Hanceville beginning at 5:30 p.m. MCC will return to Graham Gymnasium this Saturday against Coahoma beginning at 3 p.m.