White dominates, MGCCC advances

PHOTO BY BRUCE INGRAM

CLINTON — Down two with two minutes left in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament quarterfinal, Mississippi Gulf Coast needed big plays.

The Bulldogs got them from their biggest player, as Daphane White (So., St. Martin/Gulfport) put an exclamation point on a dominant afternoon with two buckets and two blocks for a 76-71 win over Itawamba.

"She played like a five-star post player," Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams. "She's 6-5.  She's the best post player in the state, hands down. She was excited about getting here. She wants a regional championship, so I told her she needed to carry the team."

White finished with 26 points to help earn Gulf Coast (17-7) a berth in the semifinals Thursday at 5 p.m. The Bulldogs will play Northwest, which upset MACJC champ East Mississippi 56-53. The tournament is being played at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus.

The game will be streamed at https://livestream.com/accounts/5943231/events/9026623.

The Bulldogs trailed the Indians (18-7) by as many eight points in the second quarter. Itawamba nailed four 3-pointers in the first half.

"They're a 25 percent 3-point shooting team, and of course they come out and nail some 3's," Adams said. "We made the adjustment at the end of the second quarter to go to our (1-3-1) zone. We were able to contain the three-ball going into the second half a bit, as well as being able to work Daphane in and out without getting another foul."

White scored the first 10 points for Gulf Coast but picked up two fouls in the first quarter, which limited her playing time the rest of the half.

The Bulldogs didn't hit a 3-pointer in the first half, but Mia Goolsby (So., Legacy Early College/Greenville S.C.) and Truth Taylor (So., Jim Hill/Jackson) remedied that in the second. They each hit a pair of 3's in the third quarter, which saw Gulf Coast put together a 13-5 run to take a 52-48 lead with 4:28 left.

Goolsby finished with 11 points, and Kayla Simmons (So., Brandon/Brandon) had 13.

Itawamba trailed by as many as five in the fourth quarter, but tied it up at 69 with 2:27 left. The Indians took a two-point lead a half-minute later, which is when White took over.

"I wanted to come in and win," she said. "Just get the team where we needed to be. Coach Hope talked to me and told me I needed to dominate. I saw we were down, and I was like, we're not going home. We're not going home this early."

She tied the game with a minute to play, the gave the lead on a bucket she was fouled on with 29.8 seconds left. She blocked Itawamba's attempts on their next two possessions, and Goolsby made three free throws to ice the game. White's defensive rebound ended the game.

"We have to rest and get off our legs," Adams said. "We have to be disciplined and stick to the game plan."

NJCAA Region 23 Tournament

March 4-6, 2020

A.E. Wood Coliseum, Mississippi College

Clinton

Quarterfinals, Wednesday

Game 1: Gulf Coast 76, Itawamba 71

Game 2: Northwest 56, East Mississippi 53

Game 3: Jones 81, Copiah-Lincoln 66

Game 4: LSU Eunice 71, Southwest 66

Semifinals, Thursday

Game 5: Northwest vs. Gulf Coast, 5 p.m.

Game 6: LSU Eunice vs. Jones, 7 p.m.

Championship, Friday

Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 5 p.m.

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.