By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Jan. 9, 2001
DECATUR East Central Community College came up on the short end of two South Division basketball games with Copiah-Lincoln Monday night.
The Lady Warriors suffered an early scoring drought in losing 81-58 to a Co-Lin squad that was ranked No. 6 in the Dec. 12 NJCAA poll.
The Warriors led by three with less than 10 minutes remaining in the men's game only to have the Wolves rally for a 71-61 victory.
Co-Lin men 71, ECCC 61: The Warriors held a 52-49 advantage with 9:23 remaining after Eric Scott connected from short range.
Following a Co-Lin timeout, the Wolves went on a 9-0 run as ECCC went scoreless for nearly five minutes.
The Warriors rallied back to within 58-57 with 3:57 left on two free throws and a 3-pointer from Winfred Craig.
Leading 62-59, Co-Lin's Barry Whitley scored the Wolves' last nine points to preserve the win. Whitley was 5-for-5 at the free-throw line over that span.
The Warriors got 14 points from James Denson, 11 each from Craig and Matthew Roebuck, eight from Scott, and six each from Chris Webb and Markeith Brown. ECCC dropped to 8-6 overall and 0-2 in the division.
Co-Lin (10-2, 1-1) had five players in double figures. Brannon Barfield scored 15 points, Rod Haynes had 14, Whitley and Brandon Dickerson both had 11, and Quentin Christian added 10.
Co-Lin women 81, ECCC 58: The Lady Warriors were plagued by their scoring drought at the beginning as they didn't score for nearly six minutes and didn't make a basket for over eight minutes in losing to the nationally-ranked Lady Wolves.
Co-Lin scored the game's first nine points before ECCC's La'Shonda Ford made a free throw with 14:22 to go in the first half.
Ford got the Lady Warriors' first basket when she connected with 11:44 to go before halftime. By then, Co-Lin had a 13-4 lead.
The Lady Wolves led by as much as 17 before ECCC closed to within 35-23 by halftime.
Not only did ECCC struggle from the field in the first half, making only 7-of-32 tries, the Lady Warriors were 8-of-16 at the free-throw line. Co-Lin made 17 of its 20 first half freebies.
Co-Lin led 57-34 with 10:36 remaining, but ECCC rallied back to within 63-51 on a basket from Ford with four minutes remaining.
The Lady Wolves then scored 18 of the game's final 25 points.
Ford led the Lady Warriors with 18 points. Anna Udicova scored 10, Bernice Hannah had nine, and Nicole Cox added seven. The Lady Warriors fell to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the division.
Co-Lin (12-0, 2-0) got 26 points from Tiffany Dales, 15 from Denise Catchings, and 11 from Mindy Livavdais.