By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Jan. 6, 2001
NEWTON The Newton Tigers nearly pulled off one of the biggest basketball wins in school history Friday night in the Newton Invitational before falling 79-66 in overtime to top-ranked Lanier.
Today's games have Quitman facing Lanier in the 4:30 p.m. and 5:45 contests and Newton hosting Newton County in the 7 and 8:15 games.
Newton and Newton County will settle the girls' championship, while the boys' title will go to the Lanier-Quitman winner.
Lanier boys 79, Newton 66 (OT): Lanier outscored Newton 16-3 in overtime to escape with the win and extend its win streak to 15.
The fourth quarter saw three ties and six lead changes. Newton went up 63-61 on a 3-pointer from Ladarrian Blaylock with eight seconds remaining in regulation.
After a timeout, Lanier tied the game with a basket just before the horn sounded to force overtime.
Newton hurt itself in regulation, missing four of its last five free throws over the final 3:27.
Newton led 7-2 early, but Lanier rallied to lead 14-12 by the end of the opening period. Newton had two one-point leads in the second quarter before Lanier took a 35-30 lead into intermission.
Newton, 13-6, got 19 points from Mario Qualls, 15 from Lance Pruitt, 13 from Bobby Lindsey, 12 from Ladarrian Blaylock, and seven from Terrell Edwards.
Lanier, 19-2, got 20 points from Solomon Forbes, 17 from Derrick Melton, 11 from Jonathan Blackmon, and 10 from Johnnie Neal.
Quitman boys 49, Newton County 37: The Panthers used a 21-7 first quarter advantage to go over .500 for the first time since the third game of the season.
David Laphand had nine points in the first quarter and Renaldo McKenzie added seven.
Quitman still led by 14 (34-20) at halftime and was up 44-27 to start the fourth quarter.
Quitman, 8-7, got 13 points from McKenzie, 12 from Jason Pearson, and 11 from Laphand.
Newton County, 10-5, got six points apiece from Al Willis, Tory Huddleston, Tony Smith, and Chris Wansley.
Newton girls 83, Lanier 54: The Lady Tigers broke open a close game by outscoring Lanier 28-8 in the fourth quarter.
Newton, 11-9, led 20-14 after one quarter and carried a 36-29 advantage into halftime.
Twila Clayton led Newton with 29 points, scoring nine in both the first and fourth quarters. Kotreece Bender scored 17, Lenore Gray had nine, Creoshia Williams and Latonya Jordan both had eight, and Latoyia Moore added six.
Lanier, 3-15, got 17 points from Lashanda Griffin and 13 from Chyla Miller.
Newton County girls 44, Quitman 41: Newton County outscored Quitman 8-3 in the final period to take the night's first game.
Quitman, 2-13, trailed 15-13 after one period, but rallied to take a 28-22 lead into halftime. The Lady Panthers led 38-36 to start the fourth quarter.
However, Quitman was unable to score in the final period until Kemonica McGee drilled a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to pull the Lady Panthers to within 44-41.
Newton County then ran out the clock as Quitman did not foul.
Newton County won despite making only 3-of-7 free throws over the final 3:26.
For the game, Quitman was whistled for 24 fouls and the Lady Cougars were 16-of-31 at the charity stripe.
Newton County committed 11 fouls, but Quitman made only 3-of-9 attempts.
Tamekia Foley led Newton County, 16-2, with 19 points. Kristin Chaney scored nine, Lakelia Bogan had eight, and April Bufkin scored six.
McGee led Quitman with 18 points, 12 coming from 3-point land. Shaquilla Mack had seven points.