2004

EC women climb WEEKOF~, x~l....o.......:.. r\ ___.,.~'"f-­ to 16th in nation

p.m. Next Monday (Feb. 2). East Cen– tral goe~ to Hind~ for t\\O more big div tsion contests. • East Central women: The Lady Warriors took over sole po~11cs!-.ion of fin.t place in the South with their key wms over Co-Lin and Jones lal>t week. On Monday, EC was up 3S-28 at halfumc and held off the Lady Wolve::. to drop Co-Lin to 8-6 overall and 3-2 in the league. Rita Birden scored 13 points to lead four playen. tn double figures for the Lady Warnors, who led by as many as 12 points in the second half before ~laving off a Co-Lin rally. Kris– ten Chancy and !Gm Cox had 12 points each. Lenore Gray I 0 and Kimyalla Viverclle nine. Travalyn Smith (14) and Renee Fields (13) led the Lady Wolves. At Jones. the Lady Warnors were knotted at 29 at the half and were still tied up at 55-all before finishing off the Lad) Bobcats wtth a 9-l run. Birden again led the way with 12 points, while Viverette and Kotreece Bender ~cored I0 each. Gray had eight and Chancy ... tx. Jasmine Vershcr led Jone!> with 18 point.... Saturda) at horne, the Lad} War– riors were in control all the way, jumping out to a 55-12 lead at half– time and coasting to a 32-pomt win over Faulkner. See ECCC, page 4B

By ROCKY HIGGINBOTHAM Sporr.s Editor The women from East Central Community College made their fiN appearance of the season m the national polls just rwo weeks ago, and had climbed to No. 16 in the lateM NJCAA Top 2S. Last week. the Lady Warriors cer– tainly played the part. East Central rolled up three more victorie~ on the hardwood, impro' ing to IS 2 overall and 5-1 in the South Division - and gaining a one-game lead over four teams tied in a logjam for second place. The Lady Warriors started the week with a 68-64 win over tradition– rich Copiah-Ltncoln on Monday. then they took a hard-fought CH-56 victory at Jones CountyThursday. Saturday at home, ECCC wrapped up a perfect week with a 7S-43 blowout win over Faulkner (Ala) Stare. East Central's men weren't as for– tunate, despite a 75-67 win over a solid Jones team. The Warriors had losses to Co-Lin (83-68) and Faulkner (82-76) sandwiched around that victo– ry, and entered this week's action with rc ords of 6-10 overall and 1-5 in the South. ECCC was at Gulf Coast Monday and will return home to host Pearl River Thursday m a pair of South Division showdowns beginning at 6

held off the Bobcats, who rallied to tie things at 6S-6S before the Warriors linished the contest on a 10-2 run. Martin scored 22 points and Hugh– es had 14 in the win. Stephen Dyess scored 11 points, Jones tallied eight and former Philadelphia standout Tel– las Burnside added seven - five of them in the final three minutes of the contest. Marvin McDonald and John Gray led Jones with 18 points apiece. The Warriors weren't as fonunate on Saturday, however, as visiting Faulkner got revenge for an earlier lo!>s to East Central. Faulkner (12-7) led 46-39 at half– time and was led by Kenny Holmes, who scored 17 points. Dyess had 18, Holmes scored 16 and Martin had IS for Ea!>t CentraL Willis chipped in eight points and Ry.an Hudson contributed six.

Freshman forward lndia Back– strom of Neshoba Central led the Lady Warriors in scoring with 12 point11, while Cox scored 11. Gray and Ebonee Leverette had nine apiece and Roxana Rogers chipped in six. • East Central men: The Warriors got off on the wrong foot with a 15- AF point loss at home last Monday against Co-Lin. U The visiting Wolves were up45-34 at haU.time and game a game-high 30 S( points from Ledell Eckles. AJ Willis led East Central with 17 U f points. Dewayne Hughes scored lS and Jamaal Martin 14, while ex– W :-;eshoba Central Mandout Desmond Jones chipped in six points. SF The Warriors rebounded nicely with an exciting win at Jone~. drop- 1 ~ pmg the highly-touted Bobcats to 13- 3overall and 4--2 in the league. EC was up 44-30 at halftime and

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