Tough D leads Bulldogs past ECCC

Mississippi Gulf Coast put its nationally-ranked defense on full display again Thursday in Decatur, beating East Central 53-45.

It wasn't the best night offensively for the Bulldogs, who received votes in this week's NJCAA poll, but they had four players in double-digits.

"Offensively, we were really stagnant," Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams said. "Defensively, we held them to 45 points. We showed up defensively, and that's what we've been really putting a lot of emphasis on. I'm always think it's the first team to 60 is the team that's gonna win. We just had to hold our own on defense because we really struggled from behind the arc and just getting in the flow offensively tonight."

Taelar Felton (So., Clinton/Clinton) led Gulf Coast with 14 points, and Nautica Bouie (So., Panama City, Fla./Rutherford) had 12. Katelyn Brinkley (So., Ridgeland/Ridgeland) and Ariana Peagler (So., Hoover, Ala./Hoover) had 11 each.

The Bulldogs (11-3) is a half-game ahead of rival Pearl River for the MACCC lead after winning their first five conference games. East Central is 6-11, 2-4.

Gulf Coast, which had the nation's eighth-stingiest defense at the start of the night, led 31-19 at halftime, but the Warriors got within five with five minutes left. Bouie scored on a drive, and Felton got fouled on a left-elbow jumper and converted a three-point play with 2:08 for a 48-40 lead.

ECCC scored the next five points, but Bouie added a layup with 32.5 seconds left, and Felton made two free throws with 12.6 seconds left to ice the game.

"This team is still morphing into the team that we know they can be," Adams said. "We have plenty of weapons on his team. If we can get three or more showing up day in and day out when we have to go into battle, we'll be pretty hard to beat because. We have a lot of dangerous pieces on her team."

Gulf Coast will look to exact revenge Monday when East Mississippi visits Dantzler Arena. The Lions beat the Bulldogs back in November. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.