2004

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state tournament foliO\\ mg their 72-59 victory over Copiah-Lincoln Communi– ty College Thursday night on the Wesson campus. The ECCC women improved to 21-2 overall and 11-1 in the South Division under third-year head coach Brad Hodge. Kimyatta Viverette of Lake had 16 points to lead the Lady \Varriors over Co– Lin, which.fell to 14-7 and 9- 3. Also scoring were Kristin Chaney of Newton County, 15; Kotreece Bender of New– ton, 13; Rita Birden of Mon– roe, La., 1?; and Lenore Gray of Newton and India Backstrom of Neshoba Cen– tral, four each. EC led 36-32 at halftime. In men,s action. the War– riors posted a 64-55 win and improved . to 10-12 and 5-7 under third-year head coach BillySmith, while the Wolves fell to 10-11 and 5-7. of Louisville led EC with 17 points. Other point makers were Tawon Walker of Neshoba Central and Desmond Jones of Neshoba Central, 12 each; and Jamaal Martin of North· east Lauderdale chipped in 11. East Central led 32-22 at the break. The Warriors will end regular-season action by hosting Gulf Coast on Thursday. ECCC (M) 64, Cc.-Un 55 Ryan Hudson

ECCC From Page lB

throw from Monique Over– street with 28 seconds remaining. ECCC (22-2 overall, 12-1 SouthDivision) had all13 of its players put points on the board. Birden had 13, Lenore Gray 10, Kristin Chaney nine, and Leverette, Britney Burks, and Kim Cox each had eight.

"We got to play a lot of people and everybody got the opportunity to score." ECCC head coach Brad Hodge said. "That makes it fun for the girls and rewards them for their effort. It reinforces a lot of .......,..;.....;.""'

things that we emphasize in practice." Despite his team's 14-0 record since Christmas and a No. 15 national ranking, Hodge sees room for improvement. "We've defended fairly well, but there are still a lot of little areas that we can improve upon," Hodge said. "They're starting to come together. That starting group can do some really good things together and that bench gives us a spark when we need it. "It's tournament time and that's what you start work– ing toward. The light's there at the end of the tun– nel." APPEAR£ :> ~ :

ROBBIE ROBERTSOIIlfTHE NEWTON RECORD East Central's Neil Tadlock, center, watches as a Jones Junior College player grabs a rebound in Monday night's action. Tadlock had eight points in the 95-64 loss to Jones

comeback bid by the War– riors. For the game, Jones made 39-of-70 field goal attempts. ECCC shot 26 three-point– ers, but made only four. ECCC (10-13, 5-8) got 27 points from Dewayne Hugh– es and eight from Neil Tad– lock. ECCC (W) 72, Co-lin 59 East Central Community College's nationally ranked Ladv Warriors clinched the South Division title and a top seed in the upcoming

Jones (M) 95, ECCC 64 The Bobcats entered the contest with a one-game lead over Peiarl River and made sure Thursday's game with the Wildcats at Ellisville will be for all the marbles with the 31-point rout. Jones (19-4. 10-3) led 40-29 at halftime behind nine points from Tim Broomfield and eight from Gary Edwards. Jones then shot 66.7 per– cent from the floor in the second half to prevent any

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