By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Dec. 27, 2001
DECATUR Newton County Academy and Leake Academy led the area girls' teams in the fifth-annual MPSA Mississippi Classic at East Central Community College Wednesday as they both came away with first-day victories.
Washington School also took an opening-round win in the girls' division.
In today's girls' games, Kemper Academy plays University Christian at 1 p.m. in an elimination contest. Central Academy takes on Indianola Academy at 4 p.m. and top-seeded Starkville Academy faces Newton County Academy at 7 in winners' bracket contests.
Leake 62
Lamar 33
Eighth grader Greggina Tadlock made her first high school game one to remember as she scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Rebelettes to the win.
Leake led 17-7 after one quarter and held a 33-14 halftime advantage. The Rebelettes enjoyed a 51-27 advantage going into the fourth quarter. Leake, 12-3, also got 13 points from sophomore Kristin Caldwell, 12 from Laurin Gross, and nine from B.J. Helton.
The win was Wolverton's 788th in his career at the Madden school.
Lamar, 3-10, got 11 points from Myleia Shirley, who hit three 3-pointers, eight from Summer Richie, and six from Libby Huff.
Washington 45
Kemper 41
A cold second half doomed the Lady Rams as they fell to 12-4.
Kemper led 24-19 at halftime before foul woes limited the Lady Rams to just three points in the third quarter. The scoring drought continued five minutes into the fourth quarter.
Washington, 9-4, led 40-28 with just under three minutes remaining in the contest before Jessica Harpole canned a trio of 3-pointers to pull Kemper to within 42-37 with 1:17 left. A basket by Leslie Beach cut the Lady Rams' deficit to 44-41 with 51 seconds to go.
Washington's Lauren Sandidge made a free throw with 6.1 seconds left to clinch the win.
Harpole led Kemper with 17 points after hitting five 3-pointers. Blair Johnson tossed in 12 points after making 7-of-12 free throws in the first half
Washington got 11 points from Mary Claire Cadenhead, 10 from Mary Allyn Roulhac, and seven from Lindsey Young.
Newton County 43
University Christian 18
Casey McMahan scored 18 points to lead the Lady Generals to the win.
NCA led 7-2 after one quarter and outscored the Lady Flames 17-3 in the second period to carry a 24-5 advantage into halftime behind 12 points from McMahan.
University Christian, 2-15, reached double figures with 3:26 left in the third quarter when Sasha Myers banked home a shot from the top of the key. By then, the Lady Generals had gone up 28-11.
NCA, 4-10, also got 10 points from Andi Chesney and six each from Cassie Cleveland and Tracy McMahan.
Christina Covington led the Lady Flames with 10 points.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com or call him at 693-1551, ext. 3235.