2002

r WEEK OF cJJ Jan 1}2

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C4 COLLEGE BASKITBA L EC C splits two·with Pearl Ri By Marty Stamper staff wnter that's the game. Maybe (Pearl River <.'oach) Ed (Walley) thought he got some cheap calls too. tied for second pl e. "I~ just puts pressure on e\ r}

rn now JUst to get a chance to get in there. Rather than fighting for a higher seed n vo we've got to fight just for an opportunh, to get in." - Pearl River (10..3 and 4-1) got 21 pomt.... from Kelly, 20 from Jessica Welborne. and 10 from Dee Flennory. The Ladv Wildcat were 29-of-43 at the free-throw iine, vohile ECCC was 24-of-33. f'he Warriors snapped a five-game losmg streak with their win over Wildcat . ECCC carried a 48-33 lead into halftime and led by as many as 18 points on :o;everal occasions in the second half. Pearl River, which is down to only seven players, rallied lo within 90-79 with 2:33 remaining, but could get no closer. ..We needed a win," ECCC coach Bill Sm1th said. "It had gotten to the point where we didn't know if we could win one or not. Fortunately. we came out tonight and shot the ball a lot better than we had been shooting it and it kinda got conta– gious." The Wa_rriors improved to 5-9 overall and 1-4 in the MACJC outh Division . Corey Hornsby and Winfred Craig com· bined to hit 10 3-pointer... and score !)2 points to lead ECCC. Horn~ b) had four 3s and tallied 28 points. Craig hit -;ix 3, and finished with 24 points Jame-. Denson added 17 points with Kevin Bobbitt to....sing in eight. · Pearl River (6-7, 1-4) got a game-high 34 points from Yandall Bro\\ 17 from Keesler Johnson. and 10 from 1) Lindon. ECCC men Pearl River 94 81

DECATUR - If th fact that the East Central Community College LadyWarriors lost to Pearl River Thmsday night wasn't bad enough, it was the way in which they came up on the short end of a 77-75 score that had ECCC t'oach Brad I lodge most displeased. "We had the game right in our hands and did everything we wanted to do the whole game," Hodge said. "Then we didn't play with any poise for the last five min– utes." The ECCC men salvaged a split by beating the Wildcats 94-81 to snap a five– game losing streak. In the women's game, Pearl River led nearly all of the first half bt-fore a basket by Nikki LaCour with three seconds showing sent the Lady Warriors into halftime with a 35-34 advantage. 'They came out on fire, but we knew they couldn't s ustain that," Hodge said. ~"Finally, we took control and put ourself in position where we wanted to be at the half." A 15-0 run put ECCC up 57-46 with 11:40 remaining. LaCour scored seven points during the run with Lori Cumber– la~d and Shelly Giddings each hitting a 3- potnter. ' Ibe Lady Warriors led 61-50 with 8:49 to go only to turn the ball over on their next four possessiOns. Pearl River trimmed its deficit to 61-58 over that span with 6:28 still showing. ..We had no poise." Hodge said. "Four or five offensive fouls were called and that's just stupidity. You can blame poor offici– ating if you're a player, but that's just stu– pidity. I thought they were cheap calls, but

"If we step up and make free throw~ and don't turn the ball over in the last five minutes, the offensive fouls don't matter." ECCC still led 69-64 with four minutes remaining. Pearl River pulled even at 73 73 with 1:29left on a 3-pointer from Audosha Kelly. Kelly added two free throws 20 seconds later and the Lady Wildcats never trailed again. LaCour, who led the Ladv Warriors with 22 points. fouled out with 44.8 seconds left as di?.Ashley Brown, the team's only remammg true center. 30 seconds later. The Lady Warriors got the ball back with 4.3 seconds left after Ykebha Grav missed two free throws that would have iced the win, but Giddings' shot at a game– winning 3-pointer hit the back of the iron and bounced away. 'There was no way we could bave gone :to overtime," Hodge said of his team's foul ·troubles. "We didn't want to go to over– time. We wanted to win then " The Lady Warriors also got 18 points from Christina Ford, 12 from Cumberland nine from Giddings, and six from Rrown ' The Lady Warriors fell to 8-6 overail and 2-3 in the MACJC South Division. To have a chance to defend their Region 23 championship, they'll have to first qualify for the state tournament which will take the top four teams from the orth and South Divisions. "'won't say if we had won it would have guaranteed us a berth (in thl' ~late tour– nament). but it would have put us in a good spot," Hodge said. "We would have been

.PPEARED IN: AKE MESSENGER

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