The streak is over…

By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Feb. 24, 2001
PHILADELPHIA The streak is no more.
The Lady Warriors of Choctaw Central entered Friday's Class 3A South State semifinal contest with Hazlehurst with 85 wins in their last 85 games played at CCHS.
Hazlehurst wasn't impressed as the Lady Indians from Copiah County claimed an 82-75 win.
Southeast Lauderdale defeated Forest 59-54 in the second game.
Southeast and Hazlehurst will battle for the 3A South State championship tonight at 8. Both secured wins in next week's state tournament in Jackson with their Friday night wins. Choctaw Central will face Forest in tonight's consolation game at 6:30 with the winner also heading to the Big House. The loser's season is over.
Hazlehurst girls 82, Choctaw Central 75: It took about 16 minutes for the Lady Indians to destroy what it took Choctaw Central a little more than six years to build.
Choctaw Central led 17-14 after one quarter with all five starters having scored. LaToya Johnson kept the Lady Indians in the game with 10 points.
The Lady Warriors led 33-31 at halftime.
It didn't take Hazlehurst long to assert its dominance in the second half. After pulling even at 33-33, the Lady Indians scored 17 of the next 27 points to go up 50-43 with 1:51 left in the third period.
Choctaw Central rallied to within 51-48 by the end of the third quarter, but soon found itself down 62-52 when Chiquita Sandifer banked home a 3-pointer for the Copiah County squad with 5:13 left in the game.
Hazlehurst hit three 3-pointers and made 16-of-24 free throws over the final eight minutes to do what 85 previous teams couldn't do.
Choctaw Central got to within 79-75 on a basket by Trish Phillips with 15 seconds left but could get no closer.
Johnson led Hazlehurst, 22-11, with a game-high 28 points that included 10 in the fourth quarter. Maketa Coleman scored 17, Aeisha Collins had 14, Sandifer scored 12, and Victoria Richardson added 11.
The 29-4 Lady Warriors got 18 points from Crystal Lewis, 17 from Chantay Frazier, 15 from Melinda Ben, nine from Deaundrea Johnson, seven from Ferne Denson, and six from Phillips.
So complete was Hazlehurst's dominance that the Lady Indians even beat Choctaw Central on 3-pointers, making eight to the Lady Warriors' seven.
Hazlehurst was also 20-of-33 at the free-throw line, while Choctaw Central was only 8-of-16.
The loss also snapped a 14-game win streak for the Lady Warriors in all games.
Southeast Lauderdale girls 59, Forest 54: Southeast spotted Forest a 9-2 lead in the game's first five minutes before coming back to take the win and a 2-1 advantage in this season's meetings.
Forest led 11-9 after one quarter, but Southeast entered halftime up 25-22 behind 15 points from Monique Horner.
Horner scored eight points in the third period as Southeast upped its lead to 44-36.
The Lady Tigers were in the double-bonus to begin the fourth quarter and took full advantage, going 11-of-19 at the charity stripe over the final eight minutes.
The Lady Tigers spread the floor early in the fourth quarter and didn't make a basket until a layup by Shalonda Mitchell with 2:34 to go.
Forest didn't help its cause by opening the final period with nearly a three-minute scoring drought as Southeast increased its lead to 47-36.
Horner led Southeast, 29-8, with 35 points after going 16-of-24 at the free-throw line. The win was the 21st in Southeast's last 23 games with both losses coming to Choctaw Central.
Southeast also got 10 points from Kenitta Cooley and five from Samantha Smith. Leslie Ruffin was held to just one point.
Forest, 23-12, got 14 points from Kelly Boutwell, 12 from Patsy McKee, 11 from Latrica Spivey, nine from Sophia Gray, and eight from Danielle Bryant. The Lady Bearcats had a five-game win streak snapped.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@meridianstar.com.

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