By Staff
Jan. 28, 2001
By Marty Stamper
The Meridian Star
FOREST The girls from Southeast Lauderdale and South Leake both came away with impressive wins in the 2001 Broiler Classic at Forest High School Saturday.
Southeast improved to 21-7 with a 56-48 win over Forest, while South Leake thumped Morton 54-31 to improve to 17-10.
Southeast Lauderdale girls 56, Forest 48: A 12-0 run by Southeast to end the first half eventually provided the difference as the Lady Tigers atoned for a loss here on Nov. 6 in the second game of the season.
Forest trailed most of the first quarter only to claim a 13-12 advantage by the end of the opening period.
A 3-pointer from Sophia Gray and a basket from Ebonee Leverette 36 seconds later gave Forest a 22-14 lead with 2:44 left in the first half.
This despite Forest losing 6-foot senior center Kelly Boutwell to an ankle sprain with 7:01 to go in the first half. She only played sparingly in the second half.
Lesley Ruffin's three-point play and a pair of 3-point bombs from Monique Horner enabled Southeast to take a 26-22 lead into the break.
Horner, who upped her career point total to 4,422 with a 25-point outing, opened the third quarter with another 3 to put the Lady Tigers up 29-22.
Southeast went up 36-24 and led 44-31 by the end of the third quarter.
The Lady Bearcats opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run and pulled back to within 44-38 on a free throw from Latrice Spivey with 5:39 remaining in the contest.
Horner made 7-of-9 free throws in the final period as Southeast held on for the win. She also hit four 3s on the night to finish with 25 points after scoring only eight in the first half.
The Lady Tigers also got 12 points from Ruffin and six from Samantha Smith.
Forest, 18-8, got 13 points from Gray, 11 from Patsy McKee, eight from Spivey, and six from Sheena Evans.
South Leake girls 54, Morton 31: South Leake outscored Morton 22-15 in the third quarter to increase a 15-10 halftime advantage to 37-25.
Tierra Young scored eight of her game-high 12 points in the third period for the Wildkittens.
South Leake, 17-10, also got 11 points from Monique Overstreet and nine from Brandy Earnest.
Morton, 19-9, got eight points from Tyesha Denson, seven from Tara Grieves, and five from Teresia Ealy.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@themeridian star.com.