2004

THREE RIVERS, MO EAST CENTRAL

76 64

Lady Raiders pull away in tottrney opener SALINA, Kan. - Every time the East Central Commumty College Lady Warriors hit Lhe Three Rivers (Mo.) Community College Lady Raiders last Tuesday afternoon, the Missouri girls hit back just a little harder. Three Rivers scored 15 of the game's final 23 point!> to take a 76-64 win. Jessica \V'tlson, a 5-foot-6 sophomore guard from Three Rivers' hometown of Poplar Bluff, landed Lhe By MARTY STAMPER Special to The Democrat

Game1 Continued from page 38

seven rebounds, while Viverette had six and Bender had five to go with four assists. Viverette had eight blocks. Three Rivers had a good scouting repon on ECCC, thankS to Itawamba Community College, according to Wilson. "We knew a lot about each player individually." Wilson said. ·•we knew pretty much their ftrst names and what they did. "We focused on stopping Chaney and (Viverette) and we knew what the rest of them did." ln addition to Wilson's 23 poims, Three Rivers. 27-5, also got 17 points from Ashley Williams. 11 from Emmerentta Ledwaba, and e1ght each from Nicole Rivers and Victoria Richards. "They're not a bad group," Hodge said. 'They earned the right to get here. I thought their guard play was a lot quicker than what we anticipated."

minute span before Three Rivers closed the half with a 5-0 run to carry a 40-36 lead into halftime. A three-point play by Chaney with 16:46 left gave the Lady Warriors a 44-42lcad. Leading 46-44 on a pair of Kotreece Bender free throws with 15 minutes to go. the Lady Warriors failed to add to their lead on two straight possessions. Wilson buried a trey with 13:25 left for a 49-46 Three Rivers lead and ECCC never caught the Lady Raiders again. "We never could get back in the lead," Hodge said. "I thought if we could get in the lead. we could take control of it, but they made good stops." ECCC got 16 points from Chaney, 13 from Rita Birden. nine from Ben– der, eight from Kim Cox, seven from Kimyatta Viverette, and five from Lenore Gray. Cox and Gray both had

knockout blows as she scored 13 straight Lady Raider points in the final 3:03. In the stretch, Wilson was 8-of-8 at the free– throw line and hit two baskets, including a 3-pointer. ECCC was only down 61-56 when W1lson took over the game. "I just tried to step up and be a leader for my team and try and get them going,'' Wilson said.

Chaney "It got me going and everybody was gelling pumped : up." Wilson firushed wilh a game-high 23 points, including a 12-of-12 effort at the free-throw line. "''ve been shooting about 85 percent, so that's pretty normal,'' Wilson said. The 29-3 Lady Warriors, who had a 22-game win streak snapped, never stayed in sync for any extend– ed period of time. ECCC finished with 17 turnovers and was out-rebounded 44-35. ECCC l.hot 39.7 percent (25-of-63) from the floor and only 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from the free– thro\' hne. "Maybe the trip was still in our legs," ECCC head coach Brad Hodge said. ··we never could get our !lmmg down all day. Nervousn~!>. or whatever it was, we ju~t didn't perform the way we're capable of pcrfomling. We've had those games before, but today we just couldn't make stops when we weren't performmg offensively. "Every time we'd give them a few punches, they'd find a way to hit us back. They'd stop our runs. That's a well-coached team. Well-coached teams will do that to you." ECCC scored the game's fLCSL four points, only to have Three Rivers tally the next seven. ECCC trailed by as many as six points in the first half before Kristin Chaney tied the game at 23 with a three-point play with 6:53 to go in the half. The cacm swapped the lead I0 Limes over a four– See GAME 1, page 58

CARTHAGINIAN _______

"NESHOBA DEMOCRAT ____ NEWTON RECORD _ _____ MERIDIAN STAR---- - -– CLARION-LEDGER ----------------

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