By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
FEB. 22, 2001
It's rare enough for any school to have a basketball team reach the state tournament as only six boys' and six girls' teams get that far each year.
Three area schools are trying to get both of their teams to state when that tournament gets under way Monday.
Still alive heading into this weekend's North/South State tournaments are the boys' and girls' teams from Meridian, Noxubee County, and Newton.
On a hot roll: The 32-1 South Leake Wildcats will carry a 29-game win streak into their Class 2A South State game with Hinds AHS on Friday a contest that is a rematch of last year's 2A title game for South Leake head coach Richard Rivers.
The 30-3 Lady Hornets of Lake have a 22-game win streak going into Friday's Class 1A South State contest with Durant.
The 29-3 Lady Warriors of Choctaw Central take a 14-game win streak into Friday's Class 3A South State matchup with Hazlehurst's Lady Indians.
The Lady Warriors, who haven't lost a game at home since Jan. 13, 1995 when they fell to South Leake have an 85-game homecourt win streak.
Snap: The War Eagles of Wayne County had their 19-game win streak snapped with a loss to Meridian Friday in the Division 5-5A championship game.
Noxubee County's girls had their 13-game win streak come to an end with a 64-62 loss to Neshoba Central in the finals of the Division 2-4A Tournament Saturday night.
Aloha: The New Hope Trojan baseball team will be heading west to Hawaii again this spring.
Stacy Hester's Trojans will play in the Millani Tournament at Honolulu, March 9-11, plus two other games in Honolulu on March 13.
Before leaving for the island paradise, New Hope visits Neshoba Central this Friday and then Meridian on Feb. 27.
Busted: The Alabama High School Athletic Association recently threw the book at an athlete and coach for cheating.
David Elsberry was declared ineligible to participate in athletics at an AHSAA-member school for a year after entering a cross country meet under an assumed name of a McAdory High student.
McAdory coach John McClemmy was disqualified from coaching in the state of Alabama for five years for allowing Elsberry to enter the meet under an assumed name.
Refs get penalty in 'Bama too: Apparently the Alabama High School Athletic Association takes its sports' rules a whole lot more seriously than some states.
When referee Richard Manley failed to penalize the home team at the Litchfield-Plainview football game because the halftime went more than the legal 20 minutes, he was given a one-week suspension which means he won't be working the first week of the 2001 season.
Baseball umpire Percy Anderson was suspended for two weeks for working AHSAA contests while being out of uniform.
The Wal-Win Volleyball Officials Association in Alabama has also been reprimanded for not fulfilling the scratch list procedure as outlined in the AHSAA Officials Guide.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@themeridianstar.com.