...I stink!

Okay...I stink at blogging! There are a million excuses but I will spare you. So, here is a quick update ...

...Mark's team finished in the Elite Eight of the JUCO National Tournament. It was fun, but long and I was ready to get home.

Here Mark and I are attending the awards banquet for the tournament.

...Kennedy had her first Easter Egg Hunt (where she knew what was going on) and loved it!
...We went to Super Bulldog Weekend! Kennedy loved it and talked about the football game for weeks!
...School is out and summer has begun! We have a blow-up kiddie pool on the side of our house like the rednecks that we have become! Kennedy loves it and I must admit so do I. Yesterday, I was laying in it with my legs propped on the side. All I needed was a glass of wine. Pathetic, I know.
...Kennedy is almost 2! CAN NOT BELIEVE IT! She is such a little adult and says the most hilarious things. Like today ...after she finished "putting make-up" on her daddy, Mark asked her how he looked. She looked him up and down and said, "mmm...better."

(I have so many more pictures to post but for some reason my computer which I just paid $300 to get fixed is not letting me do that!!! UGH!!!!!)

No. 12 EMCC to meet Brunswick CC of North Carolina in NJCAA tourney opener

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College’s first-ever appearance in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will come against Brunswick Community College (NC) on Tuesday afternoon (March 16) in Hutchinson, Kan. Tip-off for EMCC’s tournament opener is set for 2 p.m. at the 7,600-seat Hutchinson Sports Arena. The winner of the EMCC-BCC first-round contest will advance to meet the winner of the contest between Navarro College (TX) and Middle Georgia College in Wednesday’s quarterfinals of the championship bracket at 8 p.m. The EMCC/BCC loser will take on the Navarro-MGC loser in Thursday’s consolation bracket at 10 a.m. Next week’s five-day (March 16-20) NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship runs through Saturday’s finals of both the championship and consolation brackets. All 26 games of the double-elimination tournament are slated to be streamed live and will be available to view via archive at www.njcaa.org/tv. Head coach Mark White’s 26-5 EMCC Lions are the District 15 representatives in the upcoming NJCAA Tournament after claiming the Region 23 Tournament title last week on the Mississippi College campus in Clinton. Rebounding from a 61-58 loss to 25th-ranked Pearl River in the championship game of the EMCC-hosted MACJC State Basketball Tournament, the 12th-ranked Lions knocked off Northeast Mississippi (86-79), Hinds (81-74 in OT) and Itawamba (78-64) on successive nights to capture the regional title. In addition to the team’s state runner-up finish, this year’s East Mississippi squad also claimed a school-first MACJC North Division regular-season men’s crown with a 10-2 league mark. Positioned midway between Wilmington, N.C., and North Myrtle Beach, S.C., Brunswick Community College is located in Supply, N.C. Members of the Carolinas Junior College Conference, the BCC Dolphins punched their ticket to next week’s NJCAA Tournament by posting a 78-72 victory over Clinton Junior College (SC) in the championship game of the NJCAA Region 10 Tournament played this past weekend in Charlotte, N.C. Guided by head coach Walter Shaw, Brunswick owns an overall record of 23-10.
A 20-year coaching veteran, EMCC’s White will be making his third visit to Hutchinson for the men’s national tournament, though this year will mark his first duty as a head coach. He previously served as an assistant coach on North Idaho College’s team that placed fourth in the 1997 tournament, while also accompanying the Wabash Valley College (Ill.) club that went 1-2 in Kansas in 1993. A native of Russellville, Ky., White also was a part of Mississippi State teams that made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT semifinal-round showing during his five-year (2003-07) coaching stint with the Bulldogs.
With four of the 16 tournament teams still to be decided for next week’s NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, other schools that have already qualified for the tournament include: Connors State College (OK), Monroe College (NY), Howard College (TX), Butler CC (KS), Walters State CC (TN), Northwest Florida State College, Wallace State-Hanceville (AL), and Southeastern Illinois College. Tournament information, including ticket prices and game updates, will be available online throughout the tournament by accessing www.njcaabbtrny.org.

-www.eastms.edu

Who 'Ya Rootin For ...

... SCOOBA TECH!!

Mark's team has had an incredible year!

They have been ranked as high as #8 in the country, but are now ranked #12!
We won the North Division of our conference and hosted the MACJC State Tournament for the first time in the school history.
We lost a heartbreaker in the championship game and ended up losing the state title. BUT ....
the guys came back the next week as the #2 seed in the Regional Tournament (MS/LA Region) and played their hearts out.
We won the Regional Tournament and now are one of 16 teams playing for the National Championship in the NJCAA National Tournament!
This is the first time in school history that the program has won a Regional Championship and had the opportunity to play for a national title.

In the words of my husband, "hard work pays off!" I say, "woo-hoo!"

Forever Friends

I am so blessed to have great friends in my life. I attribute much of that to living in the same city my whole life. My family moved to Clinton when I was 4 and I lived there until I went to college.

When I was about 5 or 6, I met a friend named Laura. We lived near each other and played at each other's houses often. She moved when we were in the 4th or 5th grade and I was devastated. She was my closest friend at the time. I remember crying in my room for hours when she left. My mom had no clue how to make me feel better.

She visited our hometown every summer for a while. I would always see her on those visits and cry when she left. When I was in the 9th grade, my parents let me fly to Pennsylvania to see her for Spring Break. It was my first time on a plane and my first time to the Northeast. While I was there, the Blizzard of '92 hit and we were snowed in. It was so much fun! I went back several times after that and we remained very close friends.

We planned to go to college together and be roommates, but when time for the decision came - we couldn't agree on colleges. She ended up at Florida State and I at Samford.

We would lose touch for a while and then re-connect. We always laughed that no matter how long we went without speaking, we always picked right up where we left off.

It has been 10 years since I have seen Laura and we don't talk near enough. A couple weeks ago, I got a text from her that she was coming to Mississippi and could I meet her for lunch - of course!!!

Again, we picked up where we left off 10 years ago and vowed to keep in better touch. It was so great to see her and catch up on our adult lives! Can't believe it has been 10 years!

Basketball

Mark's team is 14-2!!!!!

SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi claimed their sixth straight win and improved to 14-2 on the season with a convincing 107-62 home triumph over Bevill State Wednesday evening at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.

Hitting seven of his first eight shot attempts, including four of his first five tries from beyond the arc, preseason NJCAA All-American CoCo Ware’s 22 first-half points helped stake head coach Mark White’s Lions to a 47-34 halftime advantage. EMCC went up by as many as 21 points (44-23) with three minutes left in the half, before the visiting Bears scored eight of the final 10 points of the opening period to cut the deficit to 13 points by the break.

With another 3-pointer and a lay-in basket following a steal, Ware helped spark the home team to a 7-0 run to begin the second stanza and quickly bump the margin back up to 20 points (54-34). The former Starkville High School standout later connected on his sixth and final trey of the contest to reach the 30-point mark three minutes into the second half. Despite missing five of his last six field-goal attempts on the night, Ware finished as the game’s top scorer with 32 points for his third career 30-point effort. He tallied a career-high 38 points in EMCC’s 99-58 home win over Marion Military Institute back on Dec. 5.

With all 11 available players entering the scoring column, reserve freshman Richard Dixon converted inside on a feed from Deshario Gates of Houston with 1:50 remaining to put the home-standing Lions over the century mark. Sophomore Terence Bennett of Jackson added a dozen points in the 45-point victory, while freshmen Donovan Walker of Meridian and Joe McCoy of Raymond followed with 10 points apiece.

Falling to 6-8 on the season, Bevill State was led by Brian Smith’s 15 points. Richard Nasseri and Terry Randle also scored in double digits with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Currently receiving votes in the NJCAA Division I poll and ranked among the nation’s team leaders in scoring defense, EMCC has limited its last half-dozen opponents to an average of just 57.2 points per game during the team’s current six-game winning streak. Dating back to their 41-point win over MMI, the Lions have also since knocked off Coahoma by 26 points (89-63) and Meridian on the road by 33 points (78-45). Atop the MACJC’s North Division standings with a 3-0 league mark on the year, EMCC opened this week by earning a 54-51 home win over defending divisional champions Itawamba Monday night.

The East Mississippi basketball teams resume divisional play next week by taking on Mississippi Delta Monday (Jan. 18) in Moorhead and then traveling to Goodman to meet Holmes on Thursday (Jan. 21). Next home action for the EMCC squads will be Monday, Jan. 25 against Northeast Mississippi, with game times set for 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.