Meridian shocks Lady Indians in MACJC opener, 76-74

Meridian shocks Lady Indians in MACJC opener, 76-74
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

Wesson, MS – Maia McCullum knocked down three shots and none were bigger than her final two baskets in the final moments of Meridian's 76-74 upset of No. 1 seed ICC in Monday's opening game of the MACJC Tournament.

McCullum, who scored eight points for the Lady Eagles (16-9), knocked down back-to-back three pointers to give Meridian a 72-67 lead with 2:16 left to play.

The Lady Indians (20-4) rallied to pull within two points with sixth-tenths of a second left in the game when Jayla Chills (Ripley) was fouled on a put-back attempt.

After missing the first free throw, Chills purposely missed the second attempt in hopes for a tip-in to force overtime. She placed the ball perfectly off the front rim, but one official called a lane violation on the Lady Indians, but it was overturned by a second official and called against the Lady Eagles - giving Chills a second attempt for the potential tie.

The rebound from Chills' second attempt was tipped away by Meridian and the Lady Eagles celebrated the upset victory over the Lady Indians.

Early struggles, turnovers doom Lady Indians

ICC struggled shooting 25-percent while Meridian connected on a blistering 63-percent from the floor to race out to a double-digit lead in the early stages of the game.

The Lady Indians battled back to grab their first lead of the game, 31-29, with 3:28 left in the first half, but were hampered by an uncanny 18 turnovers that led to 15 points for the Lady Eagles on the afternoon.

Chills led ICC with 21 points while Kaelin Kneeland (Olive Branch) added 19 and Jeronia Allen (Minden, LA) chipped in 15 in the loss.

Meridian was led in scoring by Titiana Hall's 22 and Miaya Crowder's 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The South Division teams swept the North in the opening round of the tournament with East Central defeating Holmes 90-69, host No. 20 Co-Lin beating East Mississippi 71-48, and Jones County winning 91-71 over Northwest. 

ICC turns focus to Region 23 Tourney

The Lady Indians will have to wait to see their seeding going into next week's NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.

Pending the outcome of the MACJC Tournament and the conclusion of the Louisiana regular season play, the Lady Indians could as high as a three seed in next week's tournament hosted at Mississippi College.

For more information on ICC basketball, follow ICC Athletics on Twitter (@LetsGoICC).