2005

WEEKOF ~l~\~~~~-----

Chaney carries Eas\\

By Ryan Satcher staff writer

~ That was a good flare for dramatics. Perseverance was obviously a big key. We just got down but never quit.

CLINTON - Kristin Chaney hit a three– pointer to send East Central into over!ime against Mississippi Delta on Wednesday rught, but apparently that wasn't enough for the soph– omore. The five-foot-six point guard hit another three– pointer at the buzzer in overtime to give East Central a 75-74 win in the ~tmifina! .... of the Region 23 Tournament. 'The shot wa. n't even for me.~ said Chaney. "It was uppo ed to go to Kotreece 'Bender) down low I went to get the ball inside to her and she wa c vered. so I knew I '-' .... e. ... ophomore and I nefl:led to :;tep up. do or dJe. fortunately, it

ECCC women's basketball coach Br~d Hodge

was my shot, and I hit it." The Lady Warriors were down by six points with 29 seconds left in the game but found a way to pull out the victory.

"If there is a word that can even come close, it's unbelievable," said ECCC coach Brad Hodge. '"That was a good flare for dramatic~. ·Perse- Central past Delta

East Central slowly battled back and cut the lead to three points with 5:01left in th~ game. The Lady Trojans responded with a pair of free throws from Latisha Brown and a three– pointer from Vancherrika Mitchell to make the score 53-44 with 1:28 left to play. Chaney hit a pair of clutch free throws with 1:15 left to cut the lead to 53-46 and scored a bucket with 56 seconds left to cut the lead to five pomts. Jessica Boyd hit both ends of a one-and-one ...ituation for the LadyTrojans to stretch the lead back out to seven points but Rogers hit her first three with 44 seconds left to play to make the See ECCC

, erancc was obviously a big key. We just got down but never quit. If you want to win champi– on~hips, you have to demonstrate tht' heart of a champion. and this group did that." . In re~ulation. East Central was down by mne P< L s \\ 1th 1:28 s(·con(ls left and foug~1t back to tit ·h£ game. led by two thrce-pomters b~ Roxana Rogers and the late three by Chaney. "Roxana Rogt>rs came in and hadn't played much and had struggled throughout the ~·ear, but nevl'r hung her llt.'ad," Hodge :-.aid. "She made some huge three~ that got u~ on a roll, and evervbodv ebe fed off that:· 'rhe L

points while Bender scored 10 points. Mitchell led the Lady Tro– jans with 17 points in the loss. The Lady Warriors, now 20-9 for the season, will move on to play the winner of the North– west Mississippi/:--Jortheast Mississippi game in the cham– pionship of the tournament tonight at 6 p.m. 'The job is not done," Hodge said. "It would have been nice to win the championship right there but they didn't hand out the trophy (Wednesday), so we've got to maintain focus and get ready."

Warriors at the bu7.7xr. but the ball rolled vut to send the game into overtime. The two teams traded the lead back and forth for most of the overtime period before Mis– sissippi Delta took a 69-66lead on a three-point play from Brown. The Lady Trojans stretched the lead out to 74-68 by hitting five free throws as East Cen– tral struggled on the offensive end. Chaney scored the final seven points of the game to give the Lady Warriors the vit'– ~r~ • The sophomore -;cored with

20 ~cconds left to make the ~core 74-70. After a turnover, Chancy again scored to cut the lead to 74-72 with four seconds left to play. On the dnbounds after a timeout. 1\tis~issippi Delta fell out of bounds with 1 he ball and gave East Central a chance with two seconps left on the clock. Chaney took the in-bounds pass, dribbled several times, took a step back and nailed the three-pointer at the buzzer to give ECCC the 75-c74 win. The shot gave Chaney 31 points for the night. India Back– strom played well inside for the Lady Warriors and scored 14

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score 55-51. After a missed free throw by Mississippi Delta, Rogers hit her second three in as many trips and cut the lead to 55-54 with 26 seconds remaining. Stephanie Boggans hit two free throws to stretch the lead to three points, but Chaney bombed a long range three– pointer with eight seconds left to tie the game 57-57. The LadyTrojans turned the ball over with five seconds remaining and Tierra Young got off a good shot for the Lady !M~At.; I