2002

East Central takes two from PRCC in hoops action

B~ Mart~ tamper EMG pon AssiMam DECATIJR- East Central Commumty College s War– nor, ,potted Pearl River a 1 -pomt lead m the first four nunute:' of their MACJC South Ot\•bion contest Thu~da) ruoght before bat– tim_ back to take an 81-77 \Hn m the Brackeen-Wood Ph\ -.teal Education Building. The Lad\ \\arrior posted a 6>- "teton m the opener. Both ECCC team:. are off unttl after the Chnstmas br ECCC men 81 Pearl River 77 - '\t. hc.ro: rs trailed 1-!-4 four minute" into their game and "ere ... till down bv 10 at 36-.26 before thev we~t on a 1--o tear to dam\ a 43-36 lead wtth 2:3 to go in the first half ln the run were two layup-. and a dunk by Brandon ia!'on, a couple of bac;ket... including a dunk by Corey Hornsb'~ a steal and a dunk bv Donzel Crenshaw a~d a drivmg layup to g~ wtth a 3-pomter by Demario Qualls. ECCC took a 45-44 lead into halftime. "The\ came out and dldn't mi-.s thetr ftrst seven or eigl· t shots ECCC head coach Bill Smith said of the Wildcat-.' hot start. We had to call a time out to try to stay in it." The Warriors kept a two to fCJ ...r-point edge until the '\ildL.·b pulled even at 57-57 w1th 1 3:; 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 ;:;-/1 lead with 3:53 to play, but the Warriors scored the ne t eight points to go up 79- 75 with 1:03 left. Qualls and Crenc;haw each hit a 3- pointer as the Warriors took the lead for good as they tmproved to 6-4 overall and I.-{) m the division.

ECCC got 25 points from Hornsby, 14 each from Qualls and Crenshaw, 10 from Mason, and eight from Jones. "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 from Yandell Brown, 17 from Ray Selvage, and 10 from Keesler Johnson. ECCC women 65 Pearl River 56 The Lady Warriors scored eight of the last nine points of the first half to take a 36-30 lead into intermission and opened the second half with a basket by Lenore Gray to go up 38-30. ECCC then went the next six minutes, 28 seconds without scoring as Pearl River eased out to a 40-38 leati~ack-to•back ·tea lo, 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- 52 lead 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 defensively. 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 division, got 15 p oints from Birden, 14 apiece from Gray and Fo1ey, and seven from Monica Overstreet. ?earl River got 1 12 points ap1ece from Kelley and Stephanie Gonzales and 10 from Jansai Newsom.