1995

ECCC takes tourney By Albert Crowther The Meridian Star DECATUR - On Thursday night, out came the slingshots and down fell a few Goliaths. The two top seeds left alive in the Mississippi Junior College South Division Tournament fell in the finals. Pearl River, the No. 1 women's team, fell to host East Central 77-68, while on the men's side, third-seeded Copiah-Lincoln took out No. 2 seed Pearl River, 88-84. "Every team I have coached has been different. This team plays with a lot of heart and is now playing well as a team," ECCC coach Sammy Pace said. The Lady Warriors (21-5) advanced to the state tourna– ment, which East Central hosts Monday and Tuesday. ECCC takes on Northeast Monday at 6 p.m. East Central scored the first four points of the game to lead 4-0 before Elaine Powell of Pearl River scored the Wildcats' first basket at the 17:41 mark. Pearl River (22-5) didn't score for the next three min– utes as East Central scored eight points and took a 12-2 lead.

"Thi s was an important game and we wanted to get off to a good start,~ said East Central's Melody Reed, who led the Lady Warnors with 18 points. Pearl River got back in the game with a 6-0 burst. The teams took a 31-31 tie into halftime and the Lady Wildcats took their first lead when Powell hit a shot 22 seconds into the second half, making it 33-32. Over the next 12 minutes the score was tied seven times. ECCC's Brandi Harber nailed a shot with 7:32 left that gave the Warriors the lead for good at 59-57. Pearl River cut the lead to three, 63-60, on a Caronica Debose hoop. Harber answered with a three-point– er. Powell made it a two-point game, 69-67. with.1:22left. East Central hit a 9-1 run to end the game. Powell led all scorers with 35 points. Debose and Karen Powell had 11 each. See Warriors, Page 3C

Warriors Continued from page 1C

Monica Davjs followed Reed with 16 points···and Harber had 14. Genia Griffin added 10. • Copiah-Lincoln 88, Pearl River 84: Timothy Hooker scored 32 points as Co-Lin knocked off its third higher-seed– ed opponent ofthe tournament. The Wolves (16-12) got 20 points from Nick Dillion and 16 from Haashim Simmons. Jerry Collins added 13. Pearl River's Conley Verdun scored 24, while Donnie Johnson had 18.

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