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Lady Warriors, Warriors ready to return to action By Tony Krausz SP •ts editOr DECATUR - The Ea-..t C Community College women'

~ n~ closed out well against 1 ortheast, and that gives us a lot ~ p sitive momentum.

ball team is paying no attention to national recognition the -.qua receiving this year. The Lady Warriors o~ned the year with the No. 6 ranking in the nation. but after suffering three losse5 in first– semester play, they fell to 24th. The 18-place drop in the poll ha,n't even been noticed by ECCC (7-3), which went 2-2 in last year's national championship tournament in Salina. Kan. "Last year's group taught us best. we don't even watch (the polls)," said Lady Warriors coach Brad Hodge, whose team resumes play this season on the road against Itawamba on Thursday. "It is good for publicity and recognition, but the only thing that matters is who wins the region tour– nament. Once we got the preseason poll, we talked about it as a team and then we tore it up. When the region tournament comes, they won't use a poll as a factor as to who gets into the playoffs." ECCC closed first-semester play with a 76-59 win over then-No. 7 Northeast Mississippi on Dec. 9. The victory over the nationally– ranked foe was a big turn around for the Lady Warriors from the team's 72- 65 loss to East Mississippi Commu– nity College on Dec. 6. "We closed out well against orth– east, and that gives us a lot of positive

lady ur10ts coach lkad Hodae

'"''2~..., Kri-..tin Chaney C.ox (hip) were ca.;~~ injuries. and a • ers v.-orked through hruL--e-. in the first

:>emester: Hodge be healed return to semester.

''We've made a ot of progre...... from day one; Hodge said. ·m the process. we've had some ~rl ... step up. We would like to ha'fe a better record, 7-3 is fine. but \\e\e let two go mere we didn't play our be-.t.- The ECCC men's team w n't Cared as well a' it~ female counterpart, but Warriors head coach Billy Smith, whose team is 3-7, hasn"t bt:en dbap– pointed by hb team's play. "We have eight new people on the team. and it take"' the fre ...hmen a See ECCC Page 84

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