2004

• arrtors

East Central Lady

betorc halftime The Lady \\'arnors stretched thetr ath antage to 30-21 at the break and later enjoyed its btgge~t lead of the game at ~8-28 \\lth 12:31 left in the contest. The Lady Wolves rallied to cut the deficit to 4~2 \\ tth just over two minutes remaining, but a ke) ba~ket by Rtta B1rden. " product of St. Fredrick High School in Momoc, La., and a parr of fi·ee throws each from Knsten Chane) of "ie\\1on Count) and Kotreecc Bender of Newton during the game's final 70 second'> chnched the \'ictory Chaney \\.as the leading scorer for East Central with 14 points and was named to the All– Region 23 Tournament Team along \\Jth Kunyatta Vtverctte of Lake. Viverette had only three points on the scoreboard but made a key rebound late m the contest to main– tain possession for the Lady Warriors. Other scorers were Bender and Lenore Gray ofNe\\100, seven each; Btrden and Kun Cox of Lake, stx each; Burks, four; Moniquc Overstreet of South Leake, three; and India Bad.~trom of"Ncshoba Central, two. Renee Fic.:lds ofMagee had 14 points to lead Co-Lin. \\hich fell to 19-9 ECCC 92, NORTHEAS"l 67 The Lady Warriors crUised to an easy victory over the SIXth– ranked Lady Tigers m semi-fmal action on March 3. Lenore Gray led EC wtth 30 points. Also scoring were Ktm Cox. I J. Kunyatta \ iverette and Kotrcece Bender. 10 each; Knstin Chancy and Rita Birden. e1ght each: ~1<,na, ue Overstreet. ~h:: Roxana Rogers of ~. l , B and lndm Bad:.,trom. t\\ o \tarqueua Thomas of Jackson had 25 pmnt" to lead Northeast. "hich tell to 20-l. Ea~t Central held a 45-26

A week after winnmg the state title, East Central Community College's Lady Warriors added another crown to their champi– onship season by posting a 52-45 decision over Copiah-Lincoln Community College in the Region 23 Tournament finals held at Mississtppi College in Clinton. With the win. the Lady Warriors, who improved 29-2 under third-year head coach Brad Hodge, became the first women's basketball team in school history to capture state and region titles in the same season and just the second EC team to accomplish the feat. The 1952-53 Warrior basketball squad won the state and region titles and firushed fourth m the NJCAA Tournament. East Central will now set its sights on a national title by com peting in the NJCAA Women's

Basketball Tournament scheduled March 16-20 in Salina, Kansas. The bracket for the 16-team tournament will be announced later m the week. Prior to begiruung '\JC. A\ tourna– ment actiqn, the Lady 'A arriors wi II be on hand to sec forn1er Ladv Wamor head coach Luctlle Wood be inducted in the NJC AA \\ omen's Basketball Coaches r fall of Fame during a ceremony scheduled ~farch 15. Wood led her Lad} Warriors to four state champion:,h tps and numerous divtsion titles during her 28-ycar coachmg career The Lady Wamors got off to a slow stat1 against Co-Lin - a team they defeated twice in regular sea– son -and tr.uled 8-1 111 the early gomg until a baseline JUmper b> Britney Burks of Scott Central gave EC the lead for good at I 1-10 with just under mne minutes remaining

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