Southwest Rally Ends Win Streak
Up by 14 points with a shade under six minutes left, it seemed as though the MSCC Lady Greyhounds were going to bank their third consecutive win over a Division 1 hoops program.
By Chuck Livingston
The Evening Times Sports Editor
MSCC Sports Information
MEMPHIS, Tennessee --- Up by 14 points with a shade under six minutes left, it seemed as though the MSCC Lady Greyhounds were going to bank their third consecutive win over a Division 1 hoops program.
Instead, Southwest Tennessee turned the tables. The Lady Saluqis forced seven Lady Greyhound turnovers after falling behind 83-69, coming all the way back for a 99-94 win against MSCC.
Employing a full-court press dialed up to force MSCC (3-9 overall) to make mistakes worked as Southwest Tennessee (4-6 overall) finished the game on a 30-11 run.
MSCC got a double-double from sophomore post player Kierra Adams. The West Memphis native finished her night with 22 points and 18 rebounds on a tidy six of 14 from the field.
LaCordia Williams of Earle chipped in with 22 points of her own on a blazing four of eight from three-point range.
It was a Williams three-point basket that gave MSCC their biggest lead of the night when the freshman stepped into a triple that rang true with 12:38 remaining in regulation, and staked the Lady Greyhounds to a 65-50 lead.
"I was impressed with our team. Look, we scored 94 points," MSCC head coach Andy Stoglin said after the game. "When I was at Jackson State, every time my team scored 80 points, we won championships, and this team is scoring 94. We're averaging about 90 points a game since we got our guards back. We just have to learn how to play smarter and run our press offense."
The first half was all MSCC as the Lady Greyhounds built a lead as large as 12 points in the game's first 20 minutes, before the visitors settled for a 42-33 at halftime.
In that opening half, the Lady Greyhounds hit 44 percent of their shots from the field to offset 10 turnovers in that opening stanza.
On the other side of the ledger, Southwest Tennessee struggled offensively, hitting just 14 of 42 shots from the field, including an 0 of nine performance from distance. For the game, the Lady Saluqis only hit 36 percent of their shots.
However, turnovers and rebounding proved to be the equalizer. Southwest outboarded MSCC 57-47, including 29 offensive rebounds, while turning the ball over only 17 times to the Lady Greyhounds' 21.
"They were a pretty good team," Stoglin said of Southwest Tennessee. "I really like what we're doing though. If we keep scoring 90 points or more per game, I can fix the defense."
MSCC was led in assists by Sasha Giles, who finished with 10 assists to compliment her 12 points, and three steals. Ivory Thornton hit for 13 points, Victoria Broady scored 12 and Dominique Dilliard posted 10 points.
The Lady Greyhounds have one more game before the Christmas break. MSCC will host Rhema Bible College on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. That contest will be followed by a men's game at approximately 7:30 p.m.