2002

WEEK OF ~~e ...:::::..C.........:;;;;.t ____

ECCC heads into holidays with sweep By Marty Stampes EMG sports ass take a 36-30 lead into intermission and opened the second halfwith a basket by Lenore Gray to go qp 38-30.

fir:;t se,·en or eight shots," ECCC head coach Bill Smith said of the Wildcats' hot start. "We had to call a time out to try to stay in it." The Warriors kept a two to four-point edge until the Wildcats pulled even at 57-57 with 13:35 remaining. Back-to-hack baskets by Desmond Jones gave ECCC a 63-61 lead with 10:30 to go. Pearl River rallied to take a 75-71 lead with 3:53 to play, but the Warriors scored the next eight points to go up 79- 75 with 1:03 left. Quall::~ and Crenshaw each hit a 3-pointer as the Warriors took the lead for good as they improved to 6-4 overall and 1-0 in the divi::;ion. ECCC got 25 points from Hornsby, 14 each from Qualls and Crenshaw, 10 from Mason, and eight from Jone~. "Pearl River's got a good team,., Smith said. "That's definitely a big win for us." Pearl River, 8-2 and 0-1, got 24 points fromYandell Brown, 17 from Ray Selvage, and 10 from Keesler Johnson. ECCC women Pearl River 65 56 The Lady Warrior:. :-;cored eight of the la5t nine pomt.i> of thl fit·st hnlf to

DECATUR- Ea•t Centr 1 Commu– nity College', \\nrnor- -potted Pearl River a 10-pomt lead m the fir,t four minute:- of their • 1ACJC .:::outh Divi– sion conte,t Thursda) ntcllt befort bat– tling back to t e an 1· ii win in the 'Brackeen-\\ood Ph) -teal Education Buildin!!'. The Lad) Warrior, po:'ted a 65-56 victory in the opener. Both ECCC team, are off until after the Cbri,tma- break. To~:: Warnors trailed 14-4 four min– ute• into their game and were still down by 10 at 36-26 before they went on a 17- 0 tear to claim a 43-36 lead with 2:38 to go in the fin;t half. In the run were two layups and a dunk by Brandon Mason, a couple of baskets including a dunk by Corey Hornsby, a steal and a dunk by Donze} Crenshaw. and a driving layup to go with a 3-pointer by Demario Quail,;. ECCC took a 45-44 lead into half– time. "'They came out and didn't mi" their ECCC men Pearl River 81 77

ECCC then went the next six min– utes, 28 seconds without scoring as Pearl River eased out to a 40-38 lead on back-to-back steals and layups by Audosha Kelley and Samantha Flen– nory in a five-second span. Pearl River held a 50-49 lead with 6:44 remaining when ECCC put together a 12-2 run to take control of the game. During the run, Rita Birden scored three baskets, while Tamekia Foley had one and hit Gray underneath the basket for another and a 61-521ead with 2:44 to go. "That was an ugly game," ECCC head coach Brad Hodge said. "We were very lethargic, but Pearl River had a lot to do with that. They're a very athletic team and got after our guards defen– sively. It's a win against a really good team and that's the way you want to start the division and close out Christmas." ECCC, 7-3 overall and 1-0 in the divi– sion, got 15 points from Birden, 14 apiece from Gray and Foley. and seven from ~lonica Overstreet. Pearl River got 12 point• apiece from Kelley and Stephanie Gonza}e .... nnd 10 from Jan.-.ai ~ew-om.

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