2004

ECC(: Lady Warriors Aiming ... . ' To Repeat Cham-pionship SeasOn

DECATUR--I f the NJCAA preseason poll is an indicator for success, then East Central Commu– nity College women 's bas– ketball team sho uld be making plans for a return trip to the nationa l tourna– ment in Salina, Knnsns, in 2005 . The I auy Wa111or-;, ranked s txtn 1n tlu: ll'CCnt rankings. li nt shcd ctghth 1n the nat ion in 2003-04, af– ter winning runner-up hon– ors in the NJCAA Conso- · lation· Bracket and finish– ing with a 3 1-4 record. Led by third-year head coach Brad Hodge and the n as– sistant LaCole Brooks, the East Ce ntra 1 women ad– vanced to the national to ur– ney afte r ca pturing the Region 23 , MACJC and South Di,·is io n c rown s. i\ hhoug h the pre-season nmktng 1s llnttcring to the pt O!!I'

make a return trip to the prest!gious tournament. "We 've got another com– petit ive and talented group th a t s hou ld he run to watch. We' ll ~:ull t tt\ltl' to pl ay up-tc111po ,,, Wl' .11 wa ys do, and will tkknd nnd pl:ty ha1d, h11t we rllusl rebound bc ltl't thrs season We've also got the dept h we need to be success l'u l in the league, a lthough our incoming freshmen have yet to learn what it takes to compete night-in a nd night-out at this level. Once they figure that out, we ' ve got a chance to be productive,'' Hodge said. Hodge said the strength o f th is year's squad is team leadership. ··we return five players off last year's group, including two start– ers and two players that ·saw a lot ofaction coming o iT the bench . Their lead– ership and experience is a btg plus for the program,

(5 ' 6") of East Ranki n Academy; forwar d s Dominetrix Hunter (5'9") o f Philade lphia and Sara Judice (6') of Teurlings Catholic (Lafayette, La.); and centers Shannon Loyd 1 (6'2") ofWest Lauderdale and April Viverette (6' I") o f Lake . Beginning her first year as an assistant is Za re th G ray, a fo rmer standout at Michigan State University. She also played professionally in Europe. "Zareth is doing a greatjob w ith our post p layers," Hodge stated. "She brings another prospective to the game having been a player at a Big 10 program. Ad– ditionally, she has worked at the Division I level un– der some good coaches. She has a wealth of knowl– edge we must tap into for us to be success ful. She' s respondin g we ll to th e players and vice wrsa I thml-. sh~· wtlllw a\ .tluahk

because they know whnt it lakes to be sucl·csslul T h ts p1oup lw~ th~· ..,,,lltl' tnlllpl'll ttH' fl,ltii H o1 , l,~_o( )'l'ill , hut ti ll holl tHII 11111: 1:-1 lh.ll lhl., ll'ollll l'o ,d•,o Vii )' t .rl~.c• nt u l .u ul l l '\pn I " " h t dn wl'l l onn: Wl' h.1 H :t COIIlpk ll' lllldl'lS(tllldulg Ill pluyrug tu

I lodge stated . Top return– l' Cs arc g ua rd Kri s tin C 'haney (5'6"), a product n l Newto n County H igh "il iH 101, and guard/forward Knt lcccc lk nclcr (5 ' 10"), nl Nn vton Chancy, who w.t\ n.llltl'd to the i\ 11-Rc– ~'1011 > 1 l'ouJttarncnt ' l cam ol tl d W :ts S l'kCICd ;\ 11 - 'it,lh.', ,tvctagcd I I po111t s fH'I ~···'lll l' whtl e Be nde r hwlt111l.' pornt s per conh.:st. O t hc t re t ut ncc s a rc g u.11d s Rqxa na Roge rs (S'7") and Kim Cox (5'7'') both 9 (Lake, and forward India Backstrom (5' II") of Neshoba Central. Fresh– me n are guards Ash ley Flint (5 ' 1 0") o f Choctaw Central , LaSaundra Harrison (5 ' 3") ofUnion, Heather Steele (5 '9") of Nanih Waiya, Tierra Yo ung (5'8") of South Leake, Erica Hardin (5'9") of Louisvill e and Aja Loveless (5 '9") ofNewton and red shirt Em1ly Massey

asset to this program and the colle&e." The Lady Warriors began the 2004-05 campaign by defeat ing Bevill State (Ala.) Community College November I 80-66 . Holmes Community Col– lege fell on November 4 6 1-59 and it was Itawamba Community College on November II th that· handed the Lady Warriors their first de feat of the season. The Lady Warriors then c omplete d a swee p of Bevill State (Ala.) Com– munity Co llege by defeat– ing them on Saturday, No– vember 13 65-59. Then the Lady Warrio rs made a sweep of the Lady Bull– dogs of Holmes Commu– nity College by downing them in overtime 69-60. T he Lady Warrio rs ~~~ c now 4 I on thl' 20011 ' 05 \ l\1..,\ll\

II

11.1