1982-1986

~Debut

By Paul McRaney

Continut>d f"l"om 3

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4

The Meridian Star ae Lady Eagles are 1~ on the .......,...... -.;.;;.;.;;;.;.;..;~-----~~----------- ason and East Central is o-1. DECATUR - Expenence wa-. the ke\ r.ere londav mght as Meri- In the boys' game the case v.as dian Junior College and East Central" Juruor College opened their ~same, but it was East Central 1984-85 basketball season with a double-header spht. tt ~d !our sophomores in the In the girls' game, the ~teridtan Lady Eaeles and five sophomores r~I?g hne':lp and Meridian had o.n the floor most of the game and opened up an 18-point lead in the t It s startmg c~nter ~.fore the ftrst half and then held on for a 19-71 win and he East Central War- ne due to an eligelabilttv rule. riors used some hot shooting and tight d~fense for a 81-65 win in the Larry Jackson was ruled rn– boys' game. telbale last Eridav because he " I was real excited and plea!>ed v.1th the pia~ of our team," said rver 21 ~ ear,.s old and hasn't Lady Eagles head coach Barbara Satcher. "Thev sttll had the attitude d m LauderCJale County for that. they coul~'t play with ju't _e\·en people and I lliink that they .Ye<~:r,' ' said .Me;,id!an head realize t~at w1th a team. effo!"l ~ey can do at. We had four people in -~ J_tm.Redeate It s onl~ m do.uble fi~ures, and you 11 wrn 1f you do that every night." Jenellie ~Isstppi that ~-e have these Miller, Dian Clayton and Antionette Diggs all fini hed v. ith 18 points s that tells a kid v.here he can while Lynette Williams finished r.Hth 14 for Meridian . ' can't play. U \\e could just Playing with only seven members on the team the Lad) Eagles e person o take i to court, opened up a 40-22lead with 5:24left in the fJ..r t half~n a coa::>t-to-coast tuld be..t It really hurt us layup by Dian Clayton. t Ea::,r 1 t::Dtral not ha,ing .After that Meridian went into a shooting .;Jump. but East Central man 1 n there." ~1d to:!. "We went. into a slump and I think we did because we got t hurt ~~endian the most bred, Satcher satd. ''But. we had been shooting so fantast ic until por s?ootmg from the floor that point, and I don't thmk we shoot that good as a team.'' The Lady lhe tree throv. line, bot Eagles, who led 44-32 at the half, " cooled off" and ended the game ng. from East Central and shooting at a 60 percent clip. dmg, a combination when East Central head coach Lucille Wood put her team in a full-court our favor~-ua!Jy means a

press .to start the second half and along with some hot shooting from Joy E.Ichelberger, w~o ~ed all scorers w it_h 23 points, brought the Lady WarriOrs back to w1thm two at 68-66 wtth 5:08 left in the game. "I thought that Meridian was going to qutt,'' said Wood. "But they show– ed their pose and kept us down. They went out there and knew what to expect we didn't." With 4:00 left in the game Diggs connected on a three-point play for a 71-66 lead and all the Lady Eagles had . do was make their free throws down the stretch and cruise to the wm. The turning point in East Central's comeback bid was just before Diggs' three-point play, Satcher went from a 2-1-2 defense to man-to– man. " That was the key. The man-to-man defense " she said. "When we arn't in foul trouble we want to go into a man-to-man defense because of our speed. It's asking a lot of them when you are playing with seven people, but I think they play better when they are asked to go hard all the time." .Reboundin.g leaders for Meridian were Diggs and Miller with 10 and mne respectively. Clayton had 13 assists and Williams had six The

e first half East Central ·en put back " -.b) that I a missed shot and an of– ! rebound and then a t Redgate said "Plus ~e lor-14 shooting from our and missed the front end e-and-one five hmes That resulted in our getting far in the first half." Central had a 22-li lead 59 left in th~ first half e Warriors connected on secutive shots from the ·o of which were three– ays . At the same time n was forced into bad

a tight Warr ior defense "'Bl'rl.. vu.•i could mus_t~r five points

SEE Debut

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