2004

WEEK OF _ _ , ___ , _..,___ _ ___

State champEast Central hopes to refocus By MikeChristenMn mclv!stensen@clarlonledger .com ney opener and enters region play as theNo. 3seed.

JUCO REGION 23 TOURNAMENT

While upsets in the state tournament threw the men's junior college Region 23 tourney into a tizzy, East Central CC's'Lady Warriors managed to stay the course on the women's side. East Central, 26-2,~:egular

The seeding process would pit East Cen– tral againstNortheast inWednesday's semifi. nals. Northeastfirst wouldhave togetbyGulf Coastin today's tourney opener at 12:30. North runner-up Northwest, led by state scoring leader NikitaTaylor, is a dangerous 6-seed. On the men's side, the seedings made for an evenmore unbalanced bracket. StatechampionPearlRiver, the No. 1seed, is on the same half of the bracket as regular season division champions Northwest and Jones, whomeetinTuesday's first round. Northwest, 24-3 and ranked fourth in the country, and Jones, 21-5, both lost in the state semis. Since it reached the state title game, Hinds automaticallygoes into region play as theNo.2 seed. That knockedNorthwest,generallyregard– ed as the state's best team, to a No. 3 seed. Hobnes, afirst-round loser inthestate tourna– ment, got the No. 4 seed because its division winning percentage (.833 in the North) was

• At Mississippi College • Today (women's games) 12:30 p .m. : Miss. No. 3 North– east vs. Miss. No. 5 Gulf Coast 2: 15p.m.: Miss No.2 Jones vs. Miss. No. 6 Northwest 6 p.m.: Miss. No 1 East Central vs. Miss. No.7 Delta 7:45p.m.: Miss.lla. No. 1Delga· do vs. Miss. No.4 Co·Lin -Complete schedule. 2C night," Hodge said. A Region 23 championship would send the Lady Warriors to the NJCAA nationals in Salina, Kan., for the first time. They open with Mississippi Delta today at 6 p.m. at Mississippi College'sWood Coliseum. Not to be overlooked in thefield ofeightis sixth-ranked Northeast, 19-3, which lost its last regular season game and its state tour- qn regional title better than Jones' (.786 intheSouth). The seeding processmatches 1vs. 7, 2vs. 6 and 3 vs. 5, with the No. 4 seed pitted against the Louisiana champion, Bossier Parish. "'t turns out it's not a goodway to do it," said Holmes coachToddKimble, who along with Gulf Coast AD Chris Calcote drew up the brackets. "We'll probably have to change it next year." JonescoachRobertMcinnishopesthey do. "It justseems to me that whatwe did over two months should mean more than what we did over three days (in the state tour– ney)," Mcinnis said. For fans, it makes for one beckofan open– ingsessiononTuesday:

season champion in the Southand ranked 17th in the NJCAA poll, won the state title and enters region play today at Clinton as the No. 1 seed. Til"ed, yes, but seeded No.

Hodge

1just the same. "Can we get back up? I don't know," ECCC coach Brad Hodge said Friday. "It's going to be a challenge. We had three tough games in three nights and right nowwe are fatigued." Led by Lenore Gray's 22 points, the Lady Warriors beat upstart Jones County 73-64 last Thursday night in Booneville for ECCC'sfirst state championshipsince 1979. "We were too tired to be nervous that

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Northwest, featuring Division I transfers -I AGIN IAN Rory Green and Jonathan Loe, against Jones, with big man Tllll Broomfield and )8A DEMOCRAT streak-shooterShedrick Kirk, at 12:30 p.m.; and Pearl Rher, featuring Ray Selvage and ON RECORD Larry Brackins (who now has football and basketball state titles on his resume), IIAN STAR against Gulf Coa:it, led by D-1 transferTom-

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