1954-1972

Lady V1bwiovs headed to national tournament From Staff Reports

* CLINTON - It wasn't their most impressive win and definitely not the prettiest of their 29 conquests this season, but Thursday's 52-45 victory over Copiah-Lincoln was definitely the one the East Central Lady Warriors have been looking forward to. The seven-pointwin at Mississip- pi College's A.E. Wood Coliseum klinched the Region 23 champi- onship and a berth in the NJCAA Women's Division I national charn- 1 pionship t o ~ r nme n t ,March 16-20 1 at Salina, Kan. The bracket will be drawn up Wednesdayfollowingplay / . ' in the other regionals. Sixteen ( teams advance to the national tour- / n"Eyc"2 improved to 29-2 and I extended its winning streak to 22. I "We did what we had to do to 1 win," ECCChead coachBrad Hodge ' 'said. "(Co-Lin coach) Gwyn Young ' a'nd the Lady Wolves did what they had to do to give themselves a chance. They controlled the tempo of the game, and we couldn't ever mzke shots to get into some full- court pressure. "It was an excellent game plan on t#eir part, but fortunately our ' . defense was able to survive. The 1 a games we've lost were in the 50s." ECCC struggled on the offensive end for nearlv six mi n~~ t e s to start the game, h&ing only a Kimyatta Viverette free throw to show for their efforts. The ggod news was that Co-Lin held only an 8-1advantage. ., Lenore Gray got ECCC's first bas- - ket on a put-back with 14:14 left in the half. After Co-Lin went up 10-3 on a basket b , ~ Travdm SP-nith, the Lady Warriors reeled off 12 unan- swered pohts to grab a lead they . wr3EilCi not relinquish. Kiln Cox had a basket and two free throws during the run, with Britney Burks' baseline jumper putting ECCC up for good at 11-10

ROBBlE ROBERTSONrHE NEWTON RECORD East Central's Kotreece Bender looks to pass the bail Thursday against Co-

Lin in the Region 23 championship game. with 8:42 to go in tlfe half. After a l a m by Rita Birden, Burks scored on another baselinejumper for a 15- 10lead. "Shewas invisible in January and February, but she did some good things the last couple of games that have helped us a lot," Hodge said of the sophomorefrom Scott Central.

"The five sophomores that sit on the bench are the ones that have really made the difference. A couple of them played a lot last year and are not playing much this year. They never complained and they deserve the credit for holding us See CHAMP$, Page 3 B