Lady Greyhounds Shoot Lights Out for First Victory

By Chuck Livingston

The Evening Times
Sports Editor

The MSCC Lady Greyhounds had gotten off to their best start of their young season on Monday night.

They led the Shawnee Lady Saints by 13 points and were taking the ball out on the side, looking to add more. Then the lights went out. Not all of them, or even half of them, but it was enough to make everyone wonder how much worse MSCC's luck could be to start the season.

The first major malfunction in The Dog House was fixed and so too was MSCC's 0-2 record as they cruised to a relatively easy 95-56 victory in front of a lively crowd over Shawnee.

It wasn't all easy, however.

Starting point guard Sasha Giles picked up two early fouls and turned the ball over twice and found herself headed to the bench with 16:30 in the first half. At the time, the Lady Greyhounds led 8-4, but Giles was their motor. She knew when to push the ball and when to run a play. With her on the bench, MSCC may struggle to score points.

Enter Elexa Guy. Guy entered for Giles and promptly dished out two assists and hit a three-pointer to keep Shawnee at bay. At the 15:46 mark, MSCC led 11-4, which prompted a Shawnee timeout as the home fans waved their growl towels.

The stoppage did them no good as Rachel Williams hit a three-pointer at 13:04 to put the Lady Greyhounds up 19-7. That was just the start of the fireworks, however. Rachell Hughes took the ball on the post and hit a lay-up while drawing a foul at 12:32 and earned three points the hard way in putting MSCC up 27-10 and forcing another Lady Saints timeout at the 11:16 mark.

Hughes poured in nine first half points along with seven first half rebounds to give MSCC some breathing room. Shawnee scored the next five points after the timeout when the outage hit and many MSCC fans in attendance may have feared the worst. The Lady Greyhounds scored the next five points after that and added to their lead when former West Memphis great Kierra Adams hit a nice lay-up off the glass to put MSCC up by 19.

MSCC led 35-20 when Hughes dove out of bounds to save a loose ball and it was hit directly to Victoria Broady who dished to Adams for a lay-up to put the Lady Greyhounds up 17.

At the half, MSCC led 45-27 and would continue to pile on in the second half, giving their starters some rest and some valuable  playing time for some youngsters. At the break, Arica Wallace led all rebounders with nine, including four offensive boards.

Adams led everyone in scoring with 13 points and four boards of her own, along with two thunderous blocks. MSCC broke the game open in the early moments of the second half and never looked back.

MSCC's men and women will be back in action on Thursday night at The Dog House against Northwest Mississippi. The women will play first at 5 p.m. and the men will follow after at approximately 7 p.m. Admission is free and everyone is encouraged to attend.