Little Rock—The Lady Tigers fell to Arkansas Baptist 88-63 in Little Rock Thursday night. 5 different CCC players fouled out of the game in the second half, depleting an already-thin bench and sending the team to its 8th loss on the season.
Josta Totten, Erica Collins, and Gabrielle Gilbert combined for 42 of the team's 68 points, but all three had foul trouble and would end up on the bench before the game was through. Errica Blair and Jasmine Leonard also fouled out of the contest. When Leonard went to the bench with just 16 seconds left, the Lady Tigers were out of reserves, forcing head coach Danetra Forrest to play out the game's final ticks with only four players on the floor.
Arkansas Baptist led by just 3 at halftime, and the Lady Tigers were able to hang with them for the first half of the second period. A layup by Leonard made it a 62-59 game with just under 11 minutes to go. But from there, it was all Lady Buffs. With the key Lady Tigers continually heading to the bench with foul trouble, they opened the game up, outscoring CCC 26-3 over the final 10:52 to earn their 3rd win of the year. The Lady Buffs were paced by Meyonsha Riddles, who put in 14 points and grabbed 9 boards. Emani Hamilton added 12 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, 5 of them on the offensive end. 5 Lady Buffs finished in double figures in scoring and 5 pulled down at least 5 rebounds.
Ariel Jones turned in an excellent night for CCC on the boards, hauling in a season-high 16 rebounds to go along with her 10 points. It was the second time that the Canton native has been in double figures in rebounding this season. Erica Collins pulled down 11 rebounds of her own, but the battle of the glass ultimately belonged to Arkansas Baptist where it mattered most. They out rebounded CCC 26-9 on the offensive end.
CCC previously defeated Arkansas Baptist in Clarksdale on November 11 by a score of 86-81. The Lady Tigers now have a chance to rest and recover this holidays before beginning their second half of the season on January 8th at Hinds CC. That game begins at 5:30 pm.Â
A live stream will be available on coahomasports.com.
For photos from the game at Arkansas Baptist, please click HERE.
