2004

I East Central ladies Lady Warriors in control of South Division race ; men continue to battle By ROCKY HIGGINBOTHAM Sports Editor Thursday at Decatur. The win avenged an ear– lier 54-52 setback to Pearl River, and improved East Central to 17-2 overall and 7-1 in South Division action. The Lady Wildcats fell to I0-9 and 4-4. "We played good defense "That's good balance:· Hodge said. "We got to play a lot of people and that's always big." The Lady Warriors also beat Gulf Coast earlier lru.t week, taking a 66-60 over– time win on- the road last Monday.

The only South Division loss to have been suffered by the East Central Community College women has now been avenged. And it wasn' t even close. ECCC's Lady Warriors, who actu– ally slipped a notch to No. 17 in the national polls last week despite their recent hot streak, took control early against visiting Pearl River and took a 72-56 win over the Lady Wildcats last

East Central's men split their two contests last week, losing 65-60 at Gulf Coa~t

and got a cushion," ECCC coach Brad Hodge said of the win. "To come in and

Backstrom

but taking an exciting 94-80 win over Pearl River to move to 7-11 overall

beat that group with that cushion ... we'll definitely take it."

and 2-6 in the South. ·' The LadyWarriors did it by spread– ing the wealth on offense. Twelve players scored. and seven of those had at least six points. Both squads were at Hinds Mon– day, and both will return home to entertain Southwest Mississippi avenge division IO$S

Thursda}. Next ~1onday (Feb. 9), East Central ' "II rival Meridian Communi– !) College All three arc South Divi– ~ton matchup~ • East Central women 72, Pearl· Ri\'er 56: Rita Birden tallied 12 points to lead the Lady Warriors' balanced attack Thursday. Monique Overstreet and Lenore Gray ~cored eight points apiece: for– mer Nc!>hoba Central standout India Backstrom, Kim Cox and Kristen Chaney all scored seven; and Kimyat– ta Viverette chipped in six. The Lady Warriors were up 33-23 at halftime and led by double digits for nearly the entire second half. Carmen Labat was the only Pearl

River player in double figures, scoring 14 points. • East Central men 9-', Pearl River 80: The men's win was a little more exciting, and much tougher to come by. ECCC started the game with a 13- 3 run, but quickly found itself clown 38-31 at halftime. The W<:rriors fought back to tic things up, then took a 69-66 lead on a 3-pointer from Jamaal Martin with 5:54 remaining. They never trailed again. lt was an 81-74 game when EC's AI Willis was fouled with a lillie less than two minutes remaining. In the proces.<; of Willis hitting t.wo free ••

throws, Pearl River wa:> called for four consecutive technical fouls. Martm promptly canned eight straight free t11rows, and EC suddenly led 91-74. Those l0 freebies were part of 23 in a row the Warriors hit, and East Central also canned a dozen 3-pointers on the night. "We have to live by the 3 and die by the 3," ECCC coach Billy Smith said. "That was a big, big win for us. If we can go knock off Hinds Monday ... we can get back into the race." Martin finished with six 3s and he was 14-of-15 from the charity stripe, scoring a game-high 34 points. WiWs added 15, while Neshoba Central See E~CC, page 48

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