2003

Big shots key ECCC win By Jeff Byrd sports editor Every time the Meridian Community College Lady Eagles got close, East Central had an answer. EAST CENTRAL vs. MCC

three-pointers from Horner who fini shed with a game high 27 points. Tameka Foley put East Central back ahead for good with a three-pointer that made it 5-3. Elyse Willis then erupted for an eight-point stretch to help knock the lead out to double digits at 18-7. Willis fin– ished with 10 points. East Central would increase its spread to 13 on two ocassions, in the first half, the latter at 30-17 following a basket by Burks. It was 38-24 before another Horner three– pointer and a a free throw made it 38-28 at the half. A nice break which featured two pin-point passes led to an easy basket by MCC's Chelse Alford that pulled the Lady Eagles to within six al45-39. Back came ECCC. Burks made a basket and a free throw by Willis put the lead back to 10 at 51-41 with 11:47 to play. A three-point play by Silvo Harris capped a 6-point run to make it 51-47. It was still a four-point game at 59-55 after Horner hit a pair of freebies with 5:52 left. That was later followed by a bank shot from JaQuita Bernard that made it 62-59 with 5:09 left. Nmyatta Viverette answered with a 10-foot shot and then followed with her big three-pointer that put ECCC up 67-59 with 3:40 to go. MCC could get no closer than six in the remaining time. Kimyatta and 'Ebonie Viverette each had 13 points to lead East Central. Burks added 12, Foley chipped in 11 and Willis had 10. East Central made 19-of-27 from the free throw line compared to MCC's 15-of-25 effort. Alford assisted Horner with 14 points while Harris and Stephanie Mosley each had seven.

They had enough answers, in fact, to win a crucial swing road game here before a full house at the Ivy Sports Center on Thursday night. The Lady Warriors got a clutch three-pointer from freshman Kimyatta Viverette and then made 7-of-8 free throws down in the final 1:20 to beat the MCC Lady Eagles 76-66. East Central moves to 3-1 in the Mississippi Community College South Division and is now 9-5 overall. ~leridian falls to 11-3 overall and 2-2 in division play. ECCC head coach Brad Hodges was elated to see his team step up down the stretch. "The shot that Kimyatta made was huge. It gave us a 1(}. point cushion, but with Mo (Monique Horner) out there anything is possible with Meridian," Hodges said. MI was a little disappointed with our free throw ~hooting at times, but then 1 was glad to see Lenore (Gray) do well along with Brittany (Burks)." . Gray was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. Burks made 5- of-6 in the final minute to put the game away. MCC head coach Hilary Allen bemoaned the fact that his team couldn't come up with the big basket. "We'd make the shot to get it to 4-5-or-3 points, but then we'd miss the ones that would gotten us closer. We could never get over the hump," Allen said. "Viverette hit two big shots late and that made it tough for us. All we were doing was matching them a three-for-a– three. "It's disappointing to get beat at home after winning five straight on the road. But, we're a young team and East Cen– tral has a fi ne ball club." MCC led only once .at 3-2 following the first of five,