SUMMIT – A strong defensive effort lifted No. 6 Jones County Junior College to victory here Thursday night at Holmes Gymnasium.
The Lady Bobcats held Southwest Mississippi without a field goal for 8:30 of the second quarter and went on to defeat the Lady Bears, 69-52.
In the men’s game, Southwest outscored JCJC 40-19 over the final 12:55 and beat the Bobcats, 90-70.
The Bobcats will host Pearl River on Saturday at A.B. Howard Gymnasium with the women’s game starting at 1 p.m., followed by the men’s game at 3 p.m. Both games will air on www.jcjc.tv. These games were originally scheduled to be played on Jan. 16, but were postponed because of inclement weather.
Southwest travels to Meridian on Saturday.
Lady Bobcats 69, Lady Bears 52
While the Lady Bobcats put the clamps on Southwest defensively, the duo of Nique Cherry (Heidelberg) and Alexis Tolefree (Conway, Arkansas) proved to be too much to handle on the offensive end.
Cherry, an East Carolina signee, ended the game with 24 points and Tolefree, an Ole Miss signee, had 22 to spark the Lady Bobcats.
Southwest led 8-4 midway through the first quarter, but Kira Bonner’s (Quitman) layup off an assist by Mackenzie Thompson (East Rankin Academy) with 1:02 left gave Jones a 12-11 lead heading into the second quarter.
Ty Lee’s putback gave the Lady Bears its final lead of the game at 13-12 with 9:14 left in the second quarter. Breonca Ducksworth’s (West Jones) layup with 1:14 left in the first half gave JCJC a 21-14 lead.
Southwest’s Keturah Bingham hit a 3-pointer with 44 seconds showing – just the second field goal of the second quarter for the hosts – to make it 21-17. Cherry’s layup with 26 seconds remaining put JCJC up 23-17 at halftime.
The Lady Bobcats extended the lead in the third quarter. Tolefree’s 3-pointer with 5:28 showing gave JCJC a 37-26 lead. Jones led 44-35 after three quarters.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Bonner and Tolefree put JCJC up 52-36 with 7:48 to play. The Lady Bobcats’ longest lead of the evening came when Chrystal Ezechukwu (Stone Mountain, Georgia) scored off a K.K. Tassin (Terry) assist with 3:34 to make it 67-45.
The Lady Bobcats improved to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in the MACJC South Division with the win.
Danyelle Lewis led Southwest, 10-2 and 1-2, with 15 points.
Bears 90, Bobcats 70
The Bobcats and Bears played it close for the first 27 minutes before Southwest pulled away.
A David Gaines, Jr. (Wayne County) layup gave JCJC its final lead of the game at 51-50 with 13:21 to play. The Bears then went on a 14-2 run, capped by a Roydell Brown slam dunk with 10:05 left, to take control at 64-53.
The closest Jones got after that was 68-59 with 7:37 remaining when Winceton Edwards (Oak Grove) made a layup. Southwest’s biggest leads would be at 85-64 and 90-69 in the final minutes of play.
For the first part of the first half, the Bobcats had the better of it.
A Gaines’ basket at 16:40 ended a 10-0 run and gave JCJC a 10-5 lead. A Malik Henry (Terry) bucket with 11:14 showing had the Bobcats ahead, 23-17.
The Bears rallied to take the lead, but Henry’s basket with 5:18 remaining tied it at 32-32. But Southwest closed the half on a 12-4 run and took a 44-36 halftime lead.
Jones would start the second half by outscoring the Bears 15-6, but Southwest would regain the momentum and go on to the victory.
Gaines led JCJC with 23 points, while Mason Daniels (Atlanta, Georgia) added 16 and Henry had 15.
The Bobcats are now 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the division.
The Bears placed four players in double figures, led by Brown with 24 points. Jeremy Harrell followed with 20, Aleksa Dobrijevic had 14 and Terrell Ben finished with 10.
Southwest is now 11-1 overall and 2-1 in the division.
