By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Feb. 7, 2001
Monique Horner may never be recognized nationally for scoring the most career points during her basketball days at Southeast Lauderdale.
Limits on the number of years the national federation recognizes as a career may do what few teams have been able to do… keep the 5-foot-4 senior from putting points in the book.
But Horner will be remembered for quite a while as being the pride and joy of Southeast Lauderdale as well as being a pretty prolific scorer.
Horner scored 41 points in Tuesday's 83-65 win over Quitman to surpass Missy Thomas, whose 4,506 points at Coleman High School in Gibsland, La., from 1992-95 are recognized as the nation's career best. National rules limit players to four years for their career point total and Horner began her point tally as a seventh-grader.
Horner apparently may not finish with the nation's highest point total anyway as Sissy Pickett, a 6-foot-9, 250-pounder, from Martin, La., reportedly broke Thomas' total Friday.
By the time Tuesday's game was over, Horner, who drilled nine 3-pointers, had 4,534 points in her six years.
When asked where she plans to take those skills next year, Horner said, "I'm leaning toward MCC (Meridian Community College)."
While a 36-point average may seem like a load of fun, Horner added there are times she feels the monkey on her back as the team's lone senior.
It took only five seconds for Horner to begin her assault on Thomas' total, as she buried a 3-pointer right off the bat.
By the end of the first quarter, Horner had 11 of the 14 points she needed to pass Thomas and Southeast had a 21-12 lead.
Horner equalled Thomas' mark with a basket with 6:30 to go in the second quarter. A short jumper in the lane 70 seconds later put Horner ahead of Thomas if not into the record book.
The Lady Tigers took a 44-31 lead on a 3-pointer from Lesley Ruffin with 2:03 to go in the first half and seemingly had matters well under control.
Quitman got hot before the half ended, however, closing with a 9-0 run to pull to within 44-40.
Ruffin had 17 points for Southeast at halftime, while Horner had 16.
Quitman scored the first basket of the second half to cut its deficit to 44-42 before Horner led the Lady Tigers on a 21-0 run that settled the outcome. Horner hit four 3-pointers and racked up 15 points in a span of 5:36 as the Lady Tigers pulled out to a 65-42 advantage.
Southeast, 24-7, also got 19 points from Ruffin, eight from Shalonda Mitchell, and seven from Samantha Smith.
Quitman, 5-19, got 20 points from Kemonica McGee, 12 from Takeisha Bonner, 10 from Shalanda Carter, and eight each from Mashana Bonner and Shaquilla Mack.
Quitman boys 81, Southeast 52: The Panthers outscored the Tigers 30-7 in the fourth quarter to break open a tight game.
Quitman led 14-7 after one period only to have Southeast draw even at 18-18 and again at 20-20. Steve Hampton's Panthers then went on a 9-0 run and led the rest of the night, taking a 31-25 edge into halftime.
A 20-point total by each team in the third quarter had Quitman up 51-45 heading into the fourth quarter.
Quitman, 13-12, got 14 points from Jason Pearson, 13 each from Renaldo McKenzie and David Laphand, and nine apiece from Cory Carpenter and Lorenzo White.
Southeast, 3-26, got 23 points from Ben Reed and 17 from Anthony Horner. Reed connected on five 3-pointers.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@themeridianstar.com.