2002

East Central women wEEK o F ,/,g bf tJ__( earn playoff berth East Cen tr al Community

Hinds, 67-60 and Pearl River, 94-81. Leading scorer for the Warriors against JCJ C was J ames Denson, a product of Choctaw Central, who had 24 points. Also scoring were Corey Horn sby, 23; and Winfred Cr aig, 15. Nick Page had 13 points to lead the Bobcats, who fell to 12- 9 and 6-5. The State Tournament, which this year includes the top four teams in each division, will be held March 4-7 and hosted by the top seed in the North men's division. Both EC s quads fell to homestanding Southwest Community College Monday, Feb. 11. The Warriors dropped an 82-73 decision while t he women were outscored 76-58. Hornsby led the EC men with 27 points. Also scoring were De~son, 11; Craig, 10; and Clint Hatch of Carthage, two. The Bears, who improved to 16-3, led 41-30 at halftime. LaCour was the Lady Warriors, top scorer with 13 points. Other point makers were Cumberland, eight; Ben, six; and Brown, five . Southwest, which improved to 15-4, led 34-23 at the break.

College's Lady Warriors needed just one more win to qualify for th e MACJC State 'Iburnament, and they earned a spot in grand style by cruising past the Jones County Junior College women 71-57 Thursday night in the Brackeen-Wood Physical Education Building on the Decatur campus. The ECCC women, 12-8 overall and 6-4 in t he South Division, were led by Nikki LaCour's 24 points. In addition to LaCour, other scorers were Lori Cumberland of Leake Academy and Ashley Brown of Scott Central, 10 each; and Melinda Ben of Choctaw Central, three. Andrea Austin of Raleigh had 13 poin ts to lead the Lady Bobcats, who fell to 8-13 and 3- 8. The Lady Warriors held a 30-18 advantage at h alftime. For the ECCC men , a berth in the state playoffs remained a reality as they posted an 81-74 win over the Bobcats. The Warriors, 9-11 overall and 4-6 in league play, needed to win games at Pearl River on Monday and with visiting Hinds, today, to assure a tour– n ament seeding. East Central earlier defeated both squads -

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