2002

Lady Eagles efeat East Central Me.r.iclidn fends off Lady W:uTiors' repeat attempt REGION 23 TOURNAMENT with the hot-shooting Lady lkar~ handing the Lady Eagles one of their two lo~~e~ al"tt:r ::;roring 57 first half points. · seven :3-point baskets. "'I1wse two did have a great game," Allen said. "We're a lillie beat up right now. Cantea (Brown) has got a sprained ankle and Tijwana (Collins) has got a !?Prained thumb. Felicia (Washington) has got a sore back, so we're trying to survive. Hopefully, we can rest and relax (Tuesday) and get some of those things worked out and be able to go on Wednesday." By Marty St amper EMG sports assistant

The MCC-ECCC battlt~ ft:alun:d st'VI'ral st<'llar individual scoring effort~. Nil(ki l.otl our led the Lady Warriors with a gamt~hi~h :1~1 points which included ECCC's last 12 points. "East Central has got a lint: baslu·thall lt:am and Nikki LaCour is certainly a lint"! baSI\t~thall player," MCC coach Hilary Allen said, ;'She put tht:m on her shoulders and carried tlwm the lust fl11tr or five minutes of the game. She's tough to 6IOJ1. 1 give them all the credit in the world. It's tt tcnu numt~nt and that's the kind of challenJ.!t: that we I!X!H!(:tccl." "She ~tepped up," ECCC l'onch Br[ld I lodge said of the 1 5-foot-9 sophomore frtHn Nntchitochcs. l..u. "She knew that somebody had to pui the bnll in th• hole." MCC, which won the 1999 anti ~!1100 rc}!iunnl•., got 50 points from the duo of Cenice Tt'I'Q' ruul Monique Horner. Terry tossed in :.!7 with llfntu~l adding·23. The two accounted lor fc,ur •if MCl''

CLINTON - Monday's quarterfinal matchup between Meridian Community College and East Central Community College in the Region 23 Tour– nament at Mississippi College was just about what you'd expect from the programs that have owned the event for the last three years. MCC built a 16-point lead in the UJfti.. :lt• firs~ half and hc:ld off the defen~ing 1 reg10n champiOn Lady Warnors (::(1{1{~ down the stretch to take an 89-80 • victory. The 29-2 Lady Eagles advance to the semifinal round on Wcdnt~stlay whl•rt> they wilJ play 20-6 Southwest ~lississippi, a l!H-54 fi r'lt-round winner over North– ~nst Mississippi, at noon. ;\ICC is rankt•d No. 12 in the final NJCAA poll, whitt• ....,outhwt'!\1 is No. 25. \tll t and Southwest met on Feb. 5 at Summit

MCC scored the game's first six points only to have ECCC go on a 7-0 run to take its only lead of the night at 7-6 with 16:05 to go in the first half. The Lady Eagles answered with a 10-0 run to go up 16-7 and were ahead 29-13 with 8:19 left in the first half after an 8-0 run. MCC led by 16 points on four occasions in the first half thanks to four 3-point baskets. The Lady Eagles led 38-22 before ECCC u~d an 8-0 run to dose to within ·tO 30 at halftime A ba~kl~t by llorner gave MCC another 16-point ••dvanlllge at 54·~iH with 15 minutes remaining. A c,.o run •:upped hy 11 driving layup by LaCour

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Foley and LaCour pu lled the Lady Warriors back to within 76-70 with 4:22 stiU showing. Unlike last year when MCC was eliminated with a first– round loss to Pearl River, this year's Lady Eagles didn't wilt down the stretch. In fact, 11 of their fina113 points came at the free-throw line over the final 4:18. Horner made 5--of-8 tries during that span. while Terry

was 4-of-4. The Lady Eaglt•s WIH' !I of I '' at the eharity lim· ow1 lht· fu1al 2: l2. Fmtlu· ganu•, Mt ( 111aclt: :w of its :m h t'<' thmw• whill' FCCl rnacl1· tci ol ils '''' . ..., hat's Jlll'lt y cl.td!jlllll gowl," Allt•n said. ''l'vt: l.!llt Sollll' guards thattilll flat ~ hoot •unit' fn•c thruws and '1<1 ol :•1 ,, 1:1:1 lainly v1·r y worthy" 'The last five 111111Uit•s tl11~y

didn't Ill iSS IIIIHIY frt~l' I hmw and if you w:ml 111 win l'llillllpi oll~hipl'l. you've J.:OI to ut:ll<'~ then• in tlw lnsl fiw Jninult:s," llod~w s:.id, ... llwy clid a go111l joh ttf I h:1t," ,\JCC aJ~,, s;:ot I 7 poiuts frum Collins, who hit three :i-poinkrs: t•ightlrom Washington, and six each from Brown and Nikki Yarbrough. ECCC got 12 points lrom

Foky. uinf• lro111 Sharll'ka Ci~t•·uul!, l'iJ.!hllnlln Lori l um– ht•rlancl, SI'Vt·n lrom Christina Ford. and six from Ashley Brown, The Lady Warriors fin– islwd lht'ir season with a 14-11 "I'm very, very proud of the · effort those girls gave," Hodge 1 said. "We started out very ten- : tative and very sluggish and · t•amt: bark anrl had it lo six with ~ . . ) mark. .

t'ut l\ICC'~ lt~nd to 62-55 with H:3!1kfl. /\ d·ul: (i :;huwing at the free– tin ow liaw hy llorncr and Terry t•xtcudcd MCC's lead back to 1~5() with 7:•1H ldt Horner went l•ol~2 twin: with \itCC getting tht offensive rt;>bound after both misses. _A basket apit•cc by Tamekia

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