Gulf Coast gets new foe in region tourney

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast faces a new opponent in the NJCAA Region 23 Women's Basketball Tournament opening round. The Lady Bulldogs will tip off against LSU Eunice at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Clinton.

"They are very scrappy," Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams said. "They play really, really hard. They're well-coached. They trap everywhere. They're all over the place creating chaos. Like it is in every game for us, it's about taking care of the ball."

The Lady Bengals (18-3) won the four-team triple round-robin schedule against Baton Rouge, Southern-Shreveport and Delgado to determine the Louisiana representative in the tournament at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus. LSU-E didn't drop a game.

The Lady Bengals beat two MACJC opponents during the regular season a total of three times. They beat Southwest 92-82 and 70-55, and they beat Holmes 100-94. Copiah-Lincoln beat LSU-E 86-61.

Gulf Coast (14-9), which will be making its first appearance in the region tournament since 2013, split against Co-Lin and beat Southwest twice.

Tuesday's game will be streamed at https://livestream.com/MGCCCBulldogs/events/8587597. The winner will advance to play the winner of the 1 p.m. matchup between Copiah-Lincoln and Pearl River.

"If we can break the press and score, we can make them go into a game they haven't had to play all year," Adams said. "They've been effective pressing people, getting turnovers and scoring. I told the girls if we're effective breaking the press, they'll have to play us in the half-court." 

NJCAA Region 23 Women's Basketball Tournament

Clinton

Tuesday

Game 1: Pearl River vs. Copiah-Lincoln, 1 p.m.

Game 2: LSU Eunice vs. Gulf Coast, 3 p.m.

Game 3: Northeast vs. Jones, 5 p.m.

Game 4: East Central vs. Itawamba, 7 p.m.

Thursday

Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 1 p.m.

Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 3 p.m.

Friday

Championship: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 5 p.m.

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.