The Lady Trojans of Mississippi Delta Community College are unblemished this season. With an 8-0 record, the ladies are off until they travel south to Louisiana on Monday, December 9, to take on Louisiana State University-Eunice. The latest win, a non-conference 68-60 triumph over the Northwest Community College Lady Rangers at J.T. Hall Coliseum on Monday night, showed the Lady Trojans’ muster coming back from the Thanksgiving layoff. Head Coach Tangela Banks was happy with the effort despite the second half lull that challenged her team. “We’re trying to survive. Last night we almost gave it away,” Coach Banks said. “We played hard. We just got in foul trouble, turned the ball over. We got up by 18, and then we lost the lead after not scoring for six or seven minutes. And then we just controlled the last five or six minutes of the fourth quarter. And we were able to pull it out.” With a mostly young team, the tough game is helping shape the Lady Trojans for conference action that starts in January. “Yeah, because they were a big team. They were a big, good team. It was a pretty much one of the toughest games we played so far,” she said. The team wasn’t sluggish coming off the break but were ready to defend their unbeaten record. “They were ready to play. That was surprising. They were ready to play. When they came back to practice, they did good. They said they were ready. Every game, they were ready to win,” Coach Banks said. “Winning creates a culture and they don’t want to give that up.” Sophomore Lauren Nelson led the Lady Trojans against Northwest. Nelson had 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and a steal for the Lady Trojans. Layla Carter had 14 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and a steal. Lauren Lain added nine points, six rebounds and three steals. Janiah Caples had 12 points, nine rebounds, five steals and two assists. “She was our lead scorer. She did well. She attacked the basket, shot a couple threes, handed the ball a little bit, so she did really good,” she said. The team has a week to prepare for LSU-Eunice and the five-hour bus ride to Louisiana. Then comes a month-long Christmas break for MDCC and the rest of the MACCC. “You got to come back and try to get everybody back acclimated like they're supposed to. I hate the long breaks, but you got to look at it this way, everybody else is off as well,” she said.
