2007

Lady Warriors :win thriller over Meridian

By Marty Stamper special to The Star

~ It was a great, great basketball game. Every playergiving it everything they've got.

DECATUR- You know you've seen a top-notch basketball game when long-time coaches and of~­ cials are talking about how great 1t was. Such was the case Monday night

a~ the East Cen– tral Community College Lady Warriors rallied from a 12-point deficit .to take a 94-90 win over Meridian Com–

Hilary Allen, MCC head coach

that we weren't making in the first half," Smith said. "Once we hit a couple of those, we got the momentum back and were able to hang on at the end. ''They shot the lights out the whole night. We were just fortunate enough to come out on top at the end. It's a big, big win tonight." MCC took a 44-41lead into half– time after holding a 42-33 advantage with just three mmutes left in the half. The Lady Eagles fell behind 45- 44 in the first minute of the second half, then went up 69-57 with 10:40 remaining. Holly Dial. NaDosha Strickland and Hila! Yildirim each hit a 3-pointer as MCC began pulling away. Jordan Patterson hit two treys and Tanesha Brown canned two others as ECCC closed to within 73- 71 with 6:45 left. Yildirim turned an ECCC turnover into an 8'1-75 MCC lead with 4:32 left, but the Lady Eagles managed just six points over the See ECCC Page 83

munity College at the Brackeen– Wood Physical Education Building. The teams entered the contest in a four-way tie for second place in the MACJC South Division along with Jones and Southwest Missis– sippi. ..It was a great basketball game," MCC coach Hilary Allen said. "Both teams on both ends of the floor. Every player giving it everything they've got Both coaches giving it everything they've got. "Billy Smith did a great job with his squad tonight. If there had been an opportunity for his team to maybe stop playing hard, they didn't. They kept on playing hard. That's a credit to him and his pro– gram and they came out with a vic– tory because of it." 'The Lady Warriors were down 73·62 with 8:22 remaining before catching fire with four 3-pointers over the next five minutes. "We made some shots at the end