By By Richard Dark/The Meridian Star
FEB. 13, 2001
Last Friday night Carthage Lady Tigers head coach Jason Gentry was intent on stopping the scoring juggernaut of Southeast Lauderdale's Monique Horner.
To a degree it worked, as Horner was held to 17 points. But in Monday's opening round of the Division 5-3A Tournament, his plan backfired, as Horner dropped in 29 points, in a about 20 minutes of work.
The overall result was the same, however, as Southeast improved to 26-7 by rolling to an 84-56 first round win.
In earlier games at Southeast Lauderdale, West Lauderdale's boys the No. 2 seed ended Southeast Lauderdale's season in an 80-54 rout, while the No. 3 seed Newton County girls had no trouble dispatching Kemper County, 70-43.
Tonight's boys slate sees No. 3 Kemper County taking on No. 6 Carthage at 5 p.m., while No. 4 Newton County squares off against No. 5 Choctaw Central at 8 p.m.. In girls action, No. 4 West Lauderdale hooks up with No. 5 Velma Jackson at 6:30 p.m.
Southeast girls 84, Carthage 56: SEL coach Joe Miller deemed the victory a solid one, as plenty of the homestanding Lady Tigers got into the act. Sam Smith scored 10, while Kenitta Cooley and Ny'Cresha Little put in nine each. Lesley Ruffin had seven.
The same couldn't be said of Carthage (2-26) which didn't score until 4:53 into the game, on an Ashley Luckett layup. Luckett finished with 20. Horner got to her total by virtue of five 3-pointers. The host Lady Tigers, who also got six from Shalonda Mitchell, led by as many as 40 at one point in the third quarter.
West Lauderdale boys 80, Southeast 54: The undermanned Tigers, seeking their fourth win of the season, quickly found they were no match for the speed and athleticism of the Knights (17-15), who got 21 points from Calvin Moore and 19 from Boo Ramsey in the runaway.
After SEL's Ben Reed hit a runner with 4:05 left in the opening quarter to draw the hosts to within 15-11, West quickly but forcefully set the tone.
Moore scored six straight points, with free throws sandwiched around a thunderous dunk.
The Knights' lead climbed into the 30s before the Tigers put together a small run to cut it to 70-50 at the 6:14 mark of the contest. It was at that point that Van Wilson, who pumped in 14, added another slam that incited the entire crowd, and sparked the 10-4 game-ending run.
West coach Duran Clark, despite advancing over a cross-county rival, said he wasn't overly pleased with all the one-on-one play he saw out of his bunch.
Karlos Lewis and Chuck Brewer added 12 and eight points, respectively.
Anthony Horner paced the Tigers with 16 points, while LaPatrick Carlisle had 10.
Reed came through with nine, and Jonathan Russell added eight points down low.
Newton County girls 70, Kemper County 43: Richard Harris' squad was never threatened as the Lady Cougars improved to 27-4 behind another stellar 33-point effort from Tamekia Foley.
Nineteen-point first and second periods quickly put away KCHS, which ended the year at 5-24.
The 38-9 halftime deficit proved to be the difference, as Kemper outscored the NCHS in the second half.
Monique Mosley put in 17 in the loss, while Lakelia Bogan chipped in with 10 points for the Lady Cougars, who move on to Thursday's pivotal fourth meeting with Southeast.
Richard Dark is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rdark@themeridianstar.com.