2004

WEEK OF ~fe::::...!.bJ......:.\~----

Lady Warriors victorious again

By Marty Stamper EMG sports assistant

Lady Warriors a 10-point lead at 55-45. ECCC reeled off seven more points before the lady Bulldogs scored again to grab a 17-point advantage with 8:47 to go. It was clear sailing after that as ECCC led by as many as 23 points. "\Ve knew coming into this game rhat it was going to be a fight," ECCC head coach Brad Hodge said. "We were fortu– nate to make those shots in critical situations. There were a couple of big threes. "Kotreece made that one to stretch the lead out and then we got good stops and made JoAnna really have to work. That was the key because she was unbelievable that first half. She's a good player, definitely a mid-major or better player. "They're a lethal team. They're scary coming into tournament time." The teams could meet again Wednesday in the state tourna– ment semifinals. The Lady Warriors got 19 points from Viverette, 16 from Kristin Chaney, 11 from Bird– en, 10 from Gray, and nine from Bender. Gulf Coast got 26 points from Williams and 10 from Katie Kogel. Gulf Coast (men) 99 ECCC 97 Courtenay Brown buried a 3-poioter from the right corner with 8.6 seconds left in over– time to give Gulf Coast the

win.

ECCC led by as many as eight points on two occasions in the first half before taking a 41-361ead into intermission. Gulf Coast opened the sec– ond half with a 10-0 run to go up 4641. :' The Bulldogs led by as many as 14 points after Terrell Jordan converted a three-point play with 12:34 left in regula– tion for a 65-Sllead. ECCC battled back to tie the game at 88-88 at the ~d of regulation. Tawon Walker put the Warriors up 88-86 with a pair of free throws with 1:03 left, but Gulf Coast's Justin Turner tied the game with a basket with 47 seconds show– ing. In overtime, the Warriors went up 97-92 with 2:05 remaining on a layuP.. by AI Willis and a three-point play fromWalker. After two free throws from Turner pulled the Bulldogs to within 97-96 with 49 seconds left, Brown stuck his trey in the hole for a 99-97 lead with 8.6 seconds showing. Jamaal Martin's 3-point shot for the win at the horn drew iron before bouncing off. ECCC (10-14, 5-9) got 22 points apiece from Martin and Walker, 16 from Dewayne Hughes, 12 from Desmond Jones, and eight fromWillis. Gulf Coast (11-14, 7-7) got 23 points from Jordan, 17 each from Turner and AI Washing– ton, 16 from Brown, and 11 from Garland Stewart

DECATUR -The 15th– ranked Lady Warriors of East Central Community College closed out their regular season with an 85-66 win over Missis– sippi Gulf Coast Community College Thursday night. ECCC improved to 23-2 overall and 13-1 in the MACJC

South Divi– sion. The next action for the divi– sion champi– on lady War– riors will be Tuesday at 1

p.m. against the No. 4 team from the North Division, either Itawamba or Holmes, in the state tournament at Booneville. Gulf Coast, which also quali– fied for the state tournament, fell to 19-6 and 9-5. The first half was a struggle as ECCC quickly fell behind 5- 0 before going up 21-14 on a free throw from Ebone'e Lev– erette with 8:25 remaining Jn the half. ~ Gulf Coast battled back to take a 33-32 lead on a 3-pointer from JoAnna Williams with 2:21 to go before halftime. A 3-pointer from Kimyatta Viverette, a three-point play from Rita Birden, and a basket from Lenore Gray enabled ECCC to take a 40-35 lead into halftime. Kotreece Bender buried a trey with just under 12 minutes lC"ft in the game to give the

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