By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Feb. 6, 2001
DECATUR The East Central Community College Warriors got just what they needed with Monday's 66-56 MACJC South Division win over Southwest Mississippi in the Brackeen-Wood Physical Education Building.
The win evened the Warriors' overall record at 11-11 and upped their division mark to 2-7.
Trailing 17-9 with 8:01 remaining in a low-scoring first half, the Warriors rallied to take a 27-25 lead into the halftime break behind 12 points from James Denson and eight from Joe Copeland.
Winfred Craig, Chris Webb, and Maurice English each hit a 3-pointer during a 13-3 run that saw the Warriors go up 45-35 with 9:30 remaining in the contest.
Southwest whittled its deficit to 51-47 when Godfred Drake nailed a 3-pointer with 4:37 to play.
Southwest had the ball on a fast break when a Bear was called for an offensive foul after dishing off the ball.
Copeland hit his first free shot to make it 52-47. Before he could take his second attempt, Southwest coach Bill Wallace stormed the court, nearly reaching the center circle, in a delayed protest of the foul call.
After a technical foul was called on Wallace, Copeland knocked down three free throws to put the Warriors in control 55-47 with 4:19 remaining.
The Warriors then canned 7-of-10 free throws in under two minutes to go up 62-47 while the Bears were mired in a three-minute, eight-second scoring drought.
After a Southwest basket with 1:29 left, Kent Chamblee added a pair of free throws with a minute left to keep the Warriors out of harm's way at 64-49.
The Warriors got 15 points from Copeland, 14 from Denson, 11 from Craig, eight from Markeith Brown, six from Webb, five from English, and four from Matthew Roebuck.
For example, the Warriors own wins over North Division leader Itawamba and second place East Mississippi.
Southwest got 10 points from Khyri Galmore and seven each from Drake, Robert Green, and Daniel McGaffney. Southwest fell to 11-10 and 1-8.
ECCC women 102, Southwest 61: The Lady Warriors ranked 19th in last week's NJCAA women's poll were looking for someone to beat up on following Thursday's 30-point loss at No. 6 Copiah-Lincoln, and Southwest got the dubious honor of playing the sacrificial lamb.
ECCC led 54-31 at halftime and led by as much as 43 points in the second half.
The Lady Warriors got 22 points and seven rebounds from Margo Porter, 16 points all in the first half from Nicole Cox, 12 points and nine rebounds from Lori Cumberland, 10 points and six rebounds from Jessica Sanders, 10 points from Nikki Lacour, nine points apiece from Alberta Norman and Anna Udicova, and six points from Trelisa Eichelberger. Sophia Reed had five steals and four points. La'Shonda Ford had six rebounds.
Southwest got 12 points from Brenda Alexander and 10 from Collette White.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@themeridianstar.com.