Lady Bulldogs trounce Meridian

PERKINSTON – Markeisha Watson has been the catalyst that gets Mississippi Gulf Coast running this year, and Monday night she had a lot of help on the inside.

The Lady Bulldogs sliced up Meridian with crisp interior passing on the way to an 82-65 victory at the Weathers/Wentzell Center.

Watson had 25 points and Gulf Coast outscored the Lady Eagles 56-36 in the paint.

"We had a height advantage on them, so we had to feed it to the post and take advantage," said Watson.

Gulf Coast improves to 10-8, 2-7 MACJC South. The Lady Bulldogs play East Central on Thursday in Perkinston.

Gulf Coast led 41-30 at halftime and surged to a 15-point advantage early in the third quarter. A 9-0 run by Meridian trimmed its deficit to 49-43 with 4:12 to go in the quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs immediately ripped off a 13-0 run of their own. Courtney White started it with a pair of inside buckets, and Ka'Nosha Fairley punctuated it with a long 3-pointer from the left wing.

Kailin Young had 15 points, Fairley had 12 and Tiana Dampeer added 11. White finished with 10 points and tied with Young and Hayley Pichon with a team-high eight rebounds.

"I was pleased with our post play offensively," Gulf Coast coach Jason Conner said. "We have to keep improving defensively. "

Young and Kamisha Tarvin had six assists.

Watson had 20 points after halftime Thursday in a stirring comeback effort that fell just short against Jones. She made 11-of-18 field goals against Meridian.

"I challenged them and said at some point, there's a place and time you have to mature mentally and emotionally and do the thing that are asked more consistently," Conner said. "Markeisha is doing that."

Gulf Coast made 52 percent of its shots from the floor, and 12 of 15 from the free throw line.