2001

LaCour leads Lady Warriors past Coast By Marty Stam per The Merid1an Star DECATUR - Led by Nikki LaCour's career-high 42 points, the East Central Community College Lady Warriors po:.ted an 81-71 MACJC South Division win over Misl>i.-.,.ippi Gulf Coast Thursday night. It was a pretty sweet belated birthday present for the sophomore guard from Natch itoche... La., who turned 20 Tuesday. The Ladv Warriors impro,·ed to 6- i with the win, handing Gulf Coast ib first loss in the proce.::;s. The ECCC mt:n lo:;t h 95- 76 contc:-t to the Bulldogs to fall to 3-4. ECCC return' t o action here Monda\ a!!3in--r Mi.. ,;i..;– sippi Delta - ECCC women Gulf Coast 81 71 It didn't take long to real– ize the women's game was going to be physical and lengthy as the teams com– bined for 29 fouls in the first half. Behind 17 points from LaCour. ECCC carried a 43- 33 advantage into halftime. With 11:31 remaining in the game, both teams were already in the double bonus. Before the night was done, the teams combined for 66 fouls and 89 free throws in the two-hour, seven-minute marathon. Gulf Coast. 5-1 . got t o Wlthin 5t>-51 wit ') er 10 minutes left. but LaCour made four layups over a tour– minute span as the Lady Warriors upped their lead

Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star FIGHTING'.IT OUT - ECCC's Lori Cumberland, right, and Gulf Coast's Catryna Mar– tin scramble for ball possession. back to 10 at 67-57.

the night with 11 3-pointers. The Warriors closed to within 58-45 with a 13-2 run to start the second half only to have Gulf Coast pull back out to a 22-point advantage. A jumper from the right wing by Clint Hatch pulled ECCC back to within 13 at 76-63 with 8:30 remai ning, but the Bulldogs cored the next six points and we re never threatened agam. ECCC got 17 point.. from James Denson, 13 from Wm– fred Craig, 12 from Demano Qualls, and nme from Donul Cre nshaw. Leading ..corer Cc ,.•• -: m•by did not dre~ ~-- ·-_,!Un Gu f a:st 6·1, got ~L points aptece from Derrick Powe and ~larquez Moultrie. Powe hit five 3-pointers in the first half.

t he bench and gave us a great spark with eight points, but that was the only one we got. "Nikki put u s on h er shoulders andlshowed a lot of character. She's a true war– rior." Cumberland finished with nine points, while Eichel– berger, Ashley Brown , and Christina Ford each scored eight. Gulf Coast got 19 points from Monique Cowans, 15 from Myeisha Mingo, and nine from Mashika Davis. Gutf Coast men mcc 95 i6 GulfCM,.t carried a 56-32 lead into halftime with 27 points coming from 3-point range. The Bulldogs finished

Gulf Coast closed to with– In 70-69 on a pair of fre e throws from Kesha Carter with 2:33 remaining. LaCour converted a three– point play with 2:05 to go for a 73-69 lead and Lori Cum– berland drove the baseline for a layup 28 seconds later. The two sophomores com– bined for ECCC's last 11 points. LaCour was 14-of-17 at the free-throw line after going 14-of-17 in two games last week. "That was a fantast ic job by Nikki," ECCC fir.:t-year h d _clt B-~ H , d. "'\\e couldn't get an_ prod tion from anybod} else We tried mixing it up, looking for somebody to give us a spark. Trelisa Eichelberger came off

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