1996

WEEK OF

B.- ~~-91.1'----

:l.l.adY Warriors advc ..Eilst Central outrebounds Jones 48-21 for victory The win improved East Central to 16-9 on t season and gives the Lady Warriors the opportUJ ty to repeat as the South Division champior while the Lady Bobcats ended their campaign w 1 an 18-8 mark.

By Ricky Sullivan· The Meridian Star "' IC....I:.

The L ady Warriors will battle the P e a River/Hinds winner tonight at 6:00 p.m. for t championship crown. · "Both clubs are very capable of beating anybo• in the state," Pace said. "Both are well coach with very good athletes and both seem to be suJ ing at the right time, so whoever we play, it's goi to be a battle." J ones County used several easy baskets undt neath - behind Monica Lockhart's five points to race to an early 11-5 lead with 15:28 remainin~ "We had some defensive lapses at times b ·defense was still the key to our winning the gam• Pace said. "(Jones) has some tremendous outside playt> and our ability tonight to contain them· somewh - made the difference in the game." The Lady Warriors made some adjustments • the bench and went on a 17-0 scoring tear - pac by Leake Academy product Tara Hall's six poi1 - to capture a 22-11 advantage after J enni f Musgrove's three-pointer at the' 9:37 mark of t play our tempo and not let them force us into their · tempo - which is something they are good at." · ECCC' s Reed stopped the scoring drought 'with an old-fashioned three-point play, and the Lady · Warriors were then able to connect on 7-of-12 free ' throws down the stretch to claim the hard-fought win, despite commjtting 10 second-half turnovers. "'We made a lot of unforced errors and if we can , eliminate those we can maybe look forward to a ;) good post season," Pace said. "But we made just ·, enough free throws to hold on to the lead." , • Reed paced the Lady Warriors offensive-attack ' with a game·higp 26 points while P achas ia Thompson tossed in 11. The Lady Bobcats' balanced-attack was fur· nished by Kanesha Lampley with 13 points, ,r Twana Hosey with 12 and Amy Parker with 10. , East Central overwhelmed Jones County on the boards by a whopping 48-21 count. Jones County (58):- Valerie Snow 8, Derita Jones 6, Amy Parker 10, Twana Hosey 12, Michelle Dukes 2, Kanesha Lampley 13, Monica Lockhart 7. · East Central (70} - Jennifer Alexander 3, Jennifer Musgrove 3, Melody Reed 26, Felicia Brantley 7, Pachasia Thompson 11 , Olivia McDaniel 6, Kim Gentry 4, Tara Hall 8, Stephanie Huston 2. JCCC 27 31 58 ECCC 39 31 70

. ; ' T.ERKINSTON- Twice before Wednesday night's MACJC South Division Tournament semifi· nals contest, the Lady Warriors of East Central and the Jones County Lady Bobcats had done bat· . tle. - And the two teams had fought toe-to-toe, only to see the two tea.ms split during the regular season. And Wednesday's semifinal game was no differ· ent Except this time - unlike the second meeting ..wh.e.P the Lady Bobcats claimed a 17-point win – : th.~j..ady Warriors' defense rose to the occasion, and advanced to the finals with a 70-58 victory. ~ "This is really a good victory' for our program -and takes a lot of pressure off," ECCC coach - Sa.IW:ny Pace said. "But I wouldn 't take a thing

away from Jones because they may be the best ball club in the state right now. ~: "And for us to beat t hem, we just feel fortunate. " . 1ce to South finals:

IJ'St half. "We had already determined to give up some oints underneath if we had to to trY and contain he 'Ill outside," Pace said. "But we made three ,djustments and it gave us a little lift and we were .ble to score some baskets." At that point, East Central poured in 17 more 10ints - with Melody Reed leading the way with .3 - and Jones County pushed in 16 as the Lady Y'arriors held a 39-27lead at the half. "We were able to start doing some things that ve knew we had to do, but really the girls j ust ·ame on and played with confidence," Pace said. After the break, the Lady Warriors raced to heir largest lead of the night - 53-37 - behind )livia McDaniel's six-point scoring surge with ll:22left in the contest. But from there, the East Central scoring attack vent cold as the Lady Bobcats held the Lady .Varriors to only three points during a six-minute >pan and trimmed the deficit to 56-47 at the 5:23 11ark. "They really played good defense in the second APPEA 1a.lf and weren't giving us a lot of baskets," Pace ;a1d. CAR "But while I was getting worried then, I knew NES_ ~e~~-t _n:_eded to settle down and make ourselves

WINSTON COUNTY JOUR_NAL.___ MERIDIAN STAR.___ /__

NEWTON RECORD_____ CLARION-LEDGER.____ _