By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Dec. 9, 2000
There was nothing earth shattering about West Lauderdale's two wins in the West Lauderdale Invitational Friday night… just solid double-digit victories over Union.
The Lady Knights claimed a 61-43 win to improve to 11-4. The Knights upped their record to 7-8 with a 76-59 victory.
Union's girls fell to 3-10, while the Yellow Jackets dropped to 6-4.
West's teams take on Kemper County for the tournament titles tonight. The girls' game is set for 6 p.m. with the boys' to follow.
Union's next action is Tuesday at Nanih Waiya.
West boys 76, Union 59: Calvin Moore scored 24 points and Boo Ramsey added 18 to lead the Knights to the win.
West scored eight of the game's first 10 points and was up 12-5 at the end of the first quarter.
The Knights eased out to a 28-20 lead before back-to-back steals and layups pulled Union to within 28-24 in the closing seconds of the first half. Moore's late basket sent the Knights into halftime up 30-24.
A three-pointer from Ramsey and a deuce from Moore extended the Knights' lead to 35-24 with 6:20 showing in the third period.
Union scratched back to within 39-30 on a three-pointer from Prentiss Evans with 5:30 left in the third period, but a Union foul and then a technical foul on Derric Harris sent Moore to the line for four free throws.
Moore made three of the charity shots and by the time Charles Brewer added a layup with 3:50 on the clock, the Knights were up 46-30.
West took a 55-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Yellow Jackets again whittled their deficit down to 10 (63-53) on a layup from Douglas Wansley with 3:23 to play, but back-to-back three-pointers from Van Wilson upped the lead to 69-53 with 2:32 left to ice the win.
West also got 12 points apiece from Wilson and Karlos Lewis.
Trellis Mason led Union with 18 points. Evans scored 13 and Wansley had 12.
West girls 61, Union 43: The Lady Knights led 17-9 after one quarter and opened the second period with a 7-0 run to go up 24-9 with 6:02 left in the first half. West took that 15-point lead (34-19) into halftime.
Union closed to within 41-30 on a three-pointer from LaSaundra Harrison with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter, but a 9-2 West run to end the period sent the Lady Knights into the final quarter with a 50-32 advantage.
Kristina Gardner and J.J. Huggins both had 14 points to lead West. JaWanda Huggins added 11 and Julie McCrory scored eight.
Jerica Hickman led Union with 16 points. Harrison finished with seven, while Dana Buckley and Jana Smith both had six.
Marty Stamper is a sports correspondent for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@themeridianstar.com.