1994

WEEK OF

East Central Captures NJCM Consolation Title ByJOEBUIE StaffWriter Co- laUoa FliULIII (7th p~) Eu& Ce.a tra1 71, I.adepeod eaoe a

EAST CENTRAL- Rena Reed,l7; En· lyn Neleon, 10; Memory Hunter, 10; Carla Leflore, 18: Jamal& Odom, 1; Monica Davia. 13: Dane Vance, 2; Tot.ala, 71. INDEPENDENCE - Alfreda Jeifenon, 12; Eliza Soltolowaka, 17; Taeha Carwm, 4: LeeAnne Monniger, 4: Kim Purkeypile, 8; Julia TeJ'elliuk, ll; Julia Chemeeva, 6; To– tala. 62. THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS - EC: Lellore (2); I: Jel'l'enon. HALFTIME SCORE - Eut Central 34, Independence 30. RECORDS - Eaat Central, 28-7; Inde– pendence, 30-6. EST.ATT.- 460.

The two teams playing the conso– lation game Saturday at Wagstaff Gymnasium had to fight the bumps, bruises and fatigue that come after five days ofhigh-stakes basketball. Independence (Kan.) Community College, appearing more fatigued from the start, played from behind for virtually the entire contest in a 71-62 loss to East Central (Miss.) Community College in the consola· tion finals of the NJCAA Women's BasketballTournament. The East Central Lady Warriors (28-7) finished seventh in t he nation via the victory over t he Lady Pirates (30-6). Independence, which placed fourth in·last year's tournament, had to settle for eighth this time._ Independence, which trailed by as many as eight points in the first half and by four at intermission, took its only leadwith 11:52 remaining. Lady Pirates' scoring leader Eliza Sokolowska, a 5-9 sophomore guard from Warsaw, Poland, was fouled on a layup after making a steal. She hit the foul shot for the three-point play to give Independence a short-lived 44-43 advantage. East Central countered on the en– suing possession. Evelyn ~elson passed inside to 6-2 freshman Moni– ca Davis who put the Lady Warriors ahead to stay at 45-44 with 11:30 remaining. Davis sparked East Central off the bench with all13 points of her points in the second half, including three consecutive jumpers that gave the Lady Warriors a two-point edge each_ time. "The key was when my big fresh– man came off the bench and started scoring," East Central coach Sammy Pace said. Andwhat about fatigue? "We were worried about th:e fa· tigue factor," Pace said. "We had two . players play 4'0 minutes yesterday. .. (an 85-84 victory over Truett– McConnell (Ga.). "We had some inju– ries: But I think we might have been a little mor.e-rem:iy." · · · "Mental focus and physical abuse were two things that hurt us--the · most," .Independence coach Jeff Tadtman said.

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