Bobcats crush Bishop State twice

By Shawn Wansley, JCJC SID

December 14, 2008 02:54 pm

— ELLISVILLE — The Jones County Junior College Bobcats closed the book on the 2008 portion of their 2008-09 basketball schedule in impressive fashion here Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Gym with a pair of routs against Bishop State, Ala., Community College.
The Lady Bobcats annihilated the Lady Wildcats 91-44, while the men’s team used a 10-0 run late in the first half to break a 26-26 tie and went on to crush the visitors from Mobile, Ala., 92-58.
The games capped the first ever “Bobcat Brotherhood Day,” which featured around 90 participants, including boys in grades 1-6, their fathers, grandfathers and mentors. The featured speaker was Mississippi State University quarterback Tyson Lee who came early, stayed late and gave an inspirational talk to everyone earlier in the day.
The Bobcat teams will not return to action until Monday, Jan. 5, when they host Coahoma Community College with the women’s game beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the men’s game at 8 p.m.
In addition, last Thursday’s Delgado Community College at JCJC game that was postponed by inclement weather will now be played at home on Tuesday, Jan. 6. The women’s game will start at 6 p.m., followed by the men’s game at 8 p.m.
Lady Bobcats 91, Lady Wildcats 44
The Lady Bobcats took a 16-7 lead with 15:45 left in the first half when Brittany Leverett scored. But, Bishop State fought back and trimmed the margin to 19-17 with 10:18 left in the first half when Bridget Brown made a free throw.
However, JCJC then went on an 11-0 run, capped by a TeAnna Carter layup with 6:48 left in the half, to make it 30-17. After the Wildcats scored three straight points, Jones closed the half on a 12-4 run to go up 42-24 at halftime.
The onslaught continued in the second half.
JCJC had a 19-6 run to start the second half, taking a 61-30 lead with 12:05 left when Carter scored. They went up 75-38 with 4:40 left when Dominique Evans canned a free throw. A Nikki Graham layup made it 87-41 with 2:11 remaining and JCJC took its longest lead at the buzzer when Shasta Mills scored.
Carter led JCJC, 7-3, with 15 points. Graham added 14 with a 7-for-7 night from the floor, while Demara Bolton and Brigit Taylor had 10 points each. Leverett led the team with nine rebounds, while Bolton had six assists.
Danielle Carter led Bishop State, 1-10, with 10 points.
Bobcats 92, Wildcats 58
Bishop State hung with JCJC for a while. Fredrick Bradley’s two free throws with 9:07 left in the first half tied the game at 26-26. But, the Bobcats’ fullcourt, pressure defense began to wear down the Wildcats. A Brian Singleton 3-pointer from the left wing put Jones up 36-26 with 7:23 left in the first half.
Jones went up 44-28 when Trenton Marshall scored with 2:55 left and took a 48-32 lead into halftime when Lakendrick McCullum slammed home a dunk with 1:14 left before the break.
It was more of the same in the second half.
Jones started the half with a 16-4 run, taking a 64-36 lead with 15:15 left when Brandon Wilson scored. The Bobcats went up 80-48 when Will Poole drained a 3-pointer from the right wing with 5:55.
JCJC’s longest lead of the night came with 1:38 remaining when Poole scored off an assist by Lakendrick McCullum to take a 90-55 lead.
Wilson led Jones, 8-2, with 20 points and six rebounds. Marshall had 16 points, while Poole added 15 and Singleton had 13. Singleton also added eight assists and Todd McDonald had six rebounds.
Bradley had 14 and Corey Steele added 12 for Bishop State, 2-7.