By By Jim Luke/The Meridian Star
Dec. 12, 2001
PHILADELPHIA The Philadelphia Tornadoes withstood a late offensive push by the Choctaw Central Warriors for a 57-52 win here Tuesday night to advance to 2-0 in Division 5-3A basketball. The Lady Warriors scored the first 17 points of the game in girls' action to roll to a 72-47 win and remain undefeated in division play.
The Tornadoes and Warriors battled back and forth in the first half with the Tornadoes leading by one at the half at 20-19. In the third quarter Philadelphia used a pair of offensive flurries to pull out to a 10-point lead and led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter before the Warriors used an offensive rush of their own to close the gap in the final two minutes of the game.
Choctaw Central pulled to within eight with 1:06 left to play at 55-47 on a three-point goal by Tony Phillips. Seconds later Anslem Henry hit for three points to close the gap to 55-50 but a pair of free throws by Philadelphia's Diego Gill dashed the hopes of the Warriors with 17.6 seconds remaining.
Choctaw Central coach Scott Thomas was proud of the comeback his team made even though it fell short in the end.
Philadelphia's Mandrako Jackson led all scorers in the game with 23 points while Gill came off the bench in the second half to add 13. Tyler Williamson led Choctaw Central with 10 points.
Philadelphia is 8-2 overall and 2-0 in division play while Choctaw Central is 5-5 and 2-3. Philadelphia will host West Lauderdale in a division battle Friday night while Choctaw Central will be home to Newton County Friday night in another division game.
Lady Warriors 72
Lady Tornadoes 47
The Lady Warriors opened the game pressing the Lady Tornadoes and turned the defensive effort into points as they roared out to a 17-0 lead and led 26-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Philadelphia coach Jason Gentry was not surprised by what he saw on the other side of the basketball during the game.
The Lady Warriors took advantage of their first quarter lead to get a number of players into the game and had twelve players score in the contest. Brittany Morris led the way offensively for Choctaw Central with 14 points. Chantay Frazier added 12 with Willa Thomas scoring 11 and Trish Phillips 10. Dominetrix Hunter led Philadelphia with 14 points while Shekara Young had 12.
Choctaw Central advances to 11-1 overall and 5-0 in the division with the win while Philadelphia falls to 6-7 and 1-1.