CLINTON — The East Mississippi Community College women’s basketball team seemed to be poised for some more playoff magic.
After sophomore Taylor Lattimore drained tough 3-pointers at the end of regulation and overtime to give the Lions a double-overtime win over Jones for the MACJC championship last Thursday, it seemed only right that when the Lions faced a two-point deficit to go against Northwest Mississippi Community College in Wednesday’s NJCAA Region 23 tournament first-round game in Clinton, they would emerge unscathed again.
Northwest had the ball, but EMCC came into the contest at A.E. Wood Coliseum at Mississippi College riding a 19-game win streak and owning the regional tournament’s No. 1 seed. So it was hardly a surprise that when the Rangers, leading 54-52, tried an inbound pass from under their own basket, the Lions got a hand on the ball for a critical deflection. It set up Topazia Hawkins for a wide-open, point-blank layup for the tie and likely a chance at overtime.
Hawkins missed it.
She grabbed the rebound, to her credit, and she was fouled on a second attempt, giving her two free throws that could tie the game. But with 1.7 seconds to go, Hawkins missed the first free throw when she needed to make it, then banked in the second when she intended to miss it. One hard foul and two Northwest free throws later, the Lions walked off the court stunned after a 56-53 defeat that cut short their hopes of an appearance in the national NJCAA tournament.
“It just came a little suddenly,” head coach Sharon Thompson said. “We never really seemed to be in sync tonight. I don’t know if we’re still celebrating after winning the state championship or what it is, but we just never did to play our style of play that we’ve been accustomed to all year.”
EMCC’s season ended with a 24-3 record as the Lions achieved success they never quite anticipated going into the season.
“I expected us to win, but I didn’t expect us to go that far,” said sophomore guard Tye Metcalf, who led EMCC with 20 points Wednesday.
Metcalf, who was named the NJCAA player of the week earlier Wednesday, kept EMCC afloat in the fourth quarter as she picked up the slack of her fellow guards. Lattimore had eight points on 3-of-17 shooting, and Hawkins made 1 of 5 shots for three points.
“Tye was the only guard, to me, that we had going offensively tonight,” Thompson said.
Metcalf picked up the Lions time and time again in a back-and-forth fourth quarter where neither team could deliver a knockout blow. But Northwest’s Kayla Freeman broke a tie with a layup with 13 seconds to go, though she missed a chance at a three-point play.
EMCC turned the ball over on its ensuing possession, giving Northwest a chance to put the game away at the line if the Rangers could cleanly inbound the ball. But the Lions tipped the pass away, and Hawkins missed unguarded from close range.
“She was wide open for a layup,” Thompson said. “Our kids are on spring break next week, and I guess that’s where her mind was.”
After Hawkins split her free throws, EMCC freshman Ja’Mia Hollings was called for an intentional foul with 0.3 seconds left, giving Northwest two free throws and possession to seal a disappointing defeat for the Lions.
“I’d rather lose by 20 points than lose that way,” Thompson said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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