
Evans scorches Lions with 29
Je'Mya Evans scored a career-high 29 points and Mississippi Gulf Coast shook off a slow start Monday at Scooba. The Bulldogs blew past East Mississippi, winning 78-47.
"It was her hustle plays," Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams said. "She got her hands on some loose balls, got some 50-50 balls. She brought us the hustle, the intensity. That got everybody else fired up. She just led the way."
Gulf Coast (9-3) won its second straight game to open MACCC play. The Bulldogs have won three straight.
EMCC (3-13, 0-2) started the game on a 9-1 run and led 19-11 after the first quarter. Gulf Coast took the lead on a putback by Tamia Yates (Fr., Crystal Springs/Crystal Springs) with 5:13 to play in the half and led by one at the break.
The Bulldogs dominated coming out of the locker room in the second half, careening to a 20-1 run. The highlight was a putback by Tytiana Buckley (So., Meridian/Meridian), who promptly stole the inbound for a layup. She stole the next inbound, too, and saved the ball to Simaru Fields (So., Pass Christian/Gulfport). Her 3-pointer splashed for a 7-0 run in less than 10 seconds.
"That changed the momentum," Adams said. "We picked them up full court and started hustling. I challenged them at halftime and felt like we were getting outworked. I told them we needed to respond, and they did."
Buckley finished with 10 points, and Fields had 16.
"It's always hard to jump off a bus and get rolling," Adams said. "For the last two years, we've been a great home team. To get the championship we're chasing, we've got to become a great road team as well. We've got be able to come out and start a little faster."
Gulf Coast will get back on home court Thursday when Holmes visits. Tipoff at Dantzler Arena is set for 5:30 p.m. Tickets are available at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/tickets, and the game will be streamed at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/watch.
For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.