By By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
Jan. 6, 2001
FOREST Scott Central girls' coach Chad Harrison summed up his team's performance in Friday's Central Mississippi Classic by saying the Lady Rebels couldn't buy a basket or a rebound.
Unfortunately for Scott Central, Harrison couldn't have put it any better.
Scott Central went through three major scoring droughts and the Lady Rebels' cross-county matchup never materialized as host Forest cruised to a 49-29 victory in semifinal action.
Thursday's other games saw Meridian's girls knock off Choctaw Central 74-63, while South Leake's boys beat Northwest Rankin 70-63 and Pearl's girls beat South Leake 63-61.
Forest girls 49, Scott Central 29: The Lady Rebels actually overcame their first-scoring drought, reeling off seven unanswered points after going without a basket for 4:39 to pull within 10-9 late in the first quarter.
The second two droughts, however, were deadly.
Scott Central went 5:38 without denting the scoreboard to fall behind 22-9; and later in the third quarter, went 5:06 without scoring as Forest opened up a 20-point advantage.
Forest, 12-5, whipped Scott Central 44-24 on the boards and led by as many as 27 at one point.
Kelly Boutwell scored 16 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and had three blocked shots to pace Forest, which got 12 points, five assists and three steals from Patsy McKee. Sophia Gray added 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Sheena Evans scored seven and Latrice Spivey six.
Marquita Anderson's nine points led Scott Central, which fell to 12-5. Katie Nickson had eight points and seven rebounds, while leading scorer Britney Burks was held to six points and six boards.
South Leake boys 70, Northwest Rankin 63: The Wildcats improved to 18-1 on the season by placing four players in double figures and knocking off Class 5A Northwest Rankin.
Defending Class 2A state champ South Leake was led by Jamal Brown's 23 points, while Kalus Johnson scored 17. Chris Bloodsaw added 13 and Lakendrick Fortune had 12.
Northwest got 19 from Ivory Horne, 12 from Patrick Lindsey, 10 from Reggie Walker and nine from Marcus Melvin.
Pearl girls 63, South Leake 61: The Class 4A Lady Pirates built a double-digit lead at halftime, then held off a late rally by the Wildkittens.
Sharhea Brown pumped in 22 points to lead Pearl, while Tyree Brown had 15 and Kay Bingham nine.
Monique Overstreet scored a game-high 29 for South Leake, which fell to 12-9. Tierra Young threw in 16 points.