2008

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SPORTS

THE MERID.IAN STAR Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Bl

www.meridlanstar.com Juco Bgsketball: NJCAA Women's National Championships Lady Warriors are boUnd·tor Kansas

By Marty Stamper Special to The Star

EC's tallest players are Taway– atha Evans (8.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and Ras hima Jenkins (17.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg), both at 5-foot-9. At Salina, they'll run into at leas t one girl that s tands a foot taller i.n Barton County's 6-foot-9 Melivier Besnoin . · "We can go around her," offered freshman Mystee Dale (13.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg), a member of Choctaw Central's 2005 Class 3A state champions hip team. "We're all excited." While Southeastern illinois has just one player from Illinois, four other states and one foreign country are represented on the Lady Falcons' roster. Jenkins, a freshman from Bossier City, La., is See ECCC Page 84

dicln 't reach them all, but I thought we had a mighty good year." It will be EC's fourth appear– ance in the nationals with the others coming in 1994, 2001. and 2004.

ferson (Mo.) College (31-1), Barton County (Kan.) Community College (32-2), Western Nebraska Community College (30-4). Wal– ters State (Tenn.) Community Col lege (29-4), Shelton State (Ala.) Community College (28-4), Lake Region (N.D.) State College (26 6), Monroe (N.Y.) Community College (20-7), and Georgia Perimeter College (19-14). Those schools aren't bound by the Mississippi Association of Community/Junior College's vastly more restrictive recruiting rules. For example, while EC is l~mited to just two out-of-staters, the 11linois and Florida represen– tatives both have just one player from their home state. "It's going to be a very com– petitive fi eld of 16," Smith said. "We probably don't match up with

some of the teams like some of the ·stronger teams would. We're going to be very small. We'll prob– ably be the smallest team out there. "We'r e just going to go out there and give it the best shot we can." "It's exciting, especially with me being shorter than what we're going to be playing against," said 5-foot-6 sophomore guard Jordon Patterson from Oak Hill Academy. "You can leave everything that you have on the court - all your energy and the love of the game - and just hope to come out with a win. "Coach Smith let us know that we needed to set our mind on another goal even though we've reached one that we've already won."

DECATUR- By winning the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament two weeks ago, the Ea~t Central Community Collcge

Lady Warriors earned the right to perform once again on the big stage. The Lady Warrior~. along with 15 other teams from across the nation, will be playing in

The Lady Warriors had today off as the tourna– ment opened but will face Southeastern Illi– nois College, 31-2, Wt'dnesday at 2 p.m. Also on hand arc tradi–

tional juco powers Central Arizona College (31-0), University of Arkansas-Fort Smith (:H-1). Mid– land (Texas) College (28-5), Col– lege of Southern Idaho (30-2), rrinity Valley (Texas) Community College (26-5), and Guii Coast (Fla.) Community College (32-1). Rounding out the field are Jef-

the 2008 NJCAA Women's Bas– ketball Championship in Salina, Kan., this wct'k. It's a fine finish for the 22-6 Lady Warriors. who had their ups and downs throughout the season. "We set a few goals for our team at the beginning of the year.'' said EC coach Bill Smith. "We