Miles College Lady Bears open season with Wallace's 300th win

FAIRFIELD, Alabama -- Miles used a blistering fourth quarter run, erasing an 11-point lead and holding Mississippi College to just two buckets over the final five minutes, to earn a 73-68 win at Knox-Windham Gymnasium in the season opener for both teams.

Sakina Wynn scored 20 points and added four assists in her first game for the Lady Bears (1-0) and Jasmine Hollis and Taylor Terry each added 13 points in the win, which was the 300th in the coaching career of head coach Phillip Wallace, Jr. Mississippi college turned the ball over 28 times, which Miles turned into 31 points. More importantly, the Lady Bears shot 71 percent from the field over the final 10 minutes to race past the Choctaws.

In the first half, it was the Choctaws who could not miss. They shot almost 64 percent from the field and led 40-29 at the break. But Miles started turning up the pressure on defense and came smoking to start the third. After scoring the first eight points of the period and going on a 14-2 run, the Lady Bears had forged a 43-42 advantage less than five minutes into the second half.

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But the Choctaws had an immediate answer, taking advantage of several Miles miscues to get some easy buckets. The Lady Bears would scored just two free throws the rest of the quarter and Mississippi College quickly reopened its 11-point leaded headed into the fourth quarter. Miles still trailed by 10 points with less than seven minutes left, but the Choctaws could not handle the Lady Bears pressure. Mississippi College went 2-for-7 from the field and made nine turnovers over the final 6:30 A layup by Najla Shamsid-Deen (eight points, four steals) with 51 seconds left cut the deficit to a single point before Hollis, Terry and Winn knocked down all six of their free throws to take the lead and salt the game.

Zariah Matthews and Zan Ratcliffe each had 14 points for Mississippi College. Raiana Johnson came off the bench to score eight points for Miles, which hosts Shorter on Tuesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

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