By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Jan. 7, 2001
NEWTON The Newton County girls and Lanier boys were crowned champions of the Newton Invitational Saturday night.
Newton County won the girls' championship 62-58 over Newton behind 21 points from Tamekia Foley, 14 from Kristin Chaney, and 12 from April Bufkin.
On the boys' side, top-ranked Lanier used a 30-17 second half advantage to pull away from Quitman in a 59-44 victory.
Newton County girls 62, Newton 58: The third meeting of the county rivals produced the same result as the first two.
Not that the win came easy. The Lady Cougars led 13-11 at the end of the first quarter and went up 27-13 in the second period.
Behind two 3-pointers from Creoshia Williams, Newton scored 10 of the last 12 points of the first half to close to within 29-23 at the break.
Newton County, 17-2, led 48-40 to start the final period.
The Lady Cougars struggled early in the fourth quarter at the free-throw line, making only three of their first 12 attempts. However, Chaney knocked down 5-of-6 over the final 1:08 to preserve the win.
Newton County went 16-of-30 at the charity stripe, while Newton made 9-of-17 tries.
Newton County also got eight points from Lakelia Bogan and five from Stephanie Airhart.
The two will tangle again Thursday in the Newton County Tournament at Union.
Newton, 11-10, got 15 points from Twila Clayton, 13 from Kotreece Bender, 10 from Williams, eight from Lenore Gray, and seven from Latonya Jordan.
Lanier boys 59, Quitman 44: The top-ranked Bulldogs extended their win streak to 16 with the 15-point win.
Quitman jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first two minutes only to have Lanier lead 16-15 by the end of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs led by two (29-27) at halftime. Lanier then outscored Quitman 18-11 in the third period to take a 47-38 advantage.
The Panthers managed only six points in the final period.
Renaldo McKenzie led Quitman, 8-8, with 15 points. Lorenzo White scored eight, David Laphand had six, and Charles Jasper added five.
Lanier, 20-2, got 18 points from Solomon Forbes, 14 from Derrick Melton, and 10 from Lamonte Purvis.
Newton boys 54, Newton County 51: While the boys' championship trophy was already headed west with Lanier, the Tigers and Cougars waged a war just the same with the Tigers winning on a last-second 3-pointer from Ladarrian Blaylock.
Blaylock buried a 3 from the right wing with a second left as Newton improved to 14-6. Unlike Friday night when Blaylock hit a 3 with eight seconds left against Lanier to put the Tigers up 63-61, Newton County had no time to respond.
The Cougars jumped out to a 21-14 first quarter lead and were still up by seven (31-24) at halftime. The game was tied at 41-41 to start the final period.
Newton got 14 points from Bobby Lindsey, 13 from Mario Qualls, 11 from Blaylock, 10 from Lance Pruitt,and six from Terrell Edwards.
Newton County, 10-6, got 20 points from Al Willis and 18 from Tony Smith.
Quitman girls 49, Lanier 37: The Lady Panthers snapped a five-game losing streak with the 12-point win.
Quitman led 11-9 at the end of the first quarter and took a slim 19-18 edge into halftime. The Lady Panthers outscored Lanier 13-9 in the third period to go up 32-27.
Behind 10 points from Kemonica McGee, Quitman outscored Lanier 17-10 in the final period.
McGee led Quitman, 3-13, with 17 points. Takeisha Bonner scored 11 while Shaquilla Mack and Natalie Trotter both had six.
Lashunda Griffin led Lanier, 3-16, with 19 points.