By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
Nov. 29, 2003
Eastern Oklahoma proved why its one of the top teams in the nation on Friday night in the Rush Invitational at Meridian Community College.
The visitors pressured the Lady Eagles and cruised to a 104-60 victory in the nightcap.
In the early game, Alabama Southern knocked off Coahoma 61-50.
In the late game, Eastern Oklahoma outscored the Lady Eagles 18-7 in the final minutes of the first half and then outscored MCC 28-8 in the first nine minutes of the second half to take the victory.
The loss is the first of the year for MCC, which drops to 5-1 for the season. The Lady Eagles will have another test tonight when they take on Alabama Southern. Eastern Oklahoma and Coahoma will play in the other contest.
Eastern Oklahoma jumped out to an early lead, but two three-pointers by Chelse Alford tied the game for the Lady Eagles.
Eastern Oklahoma pulled out to a small lead and made the score 26-18 with a basket by Brandy Purnell with 12:05 left in the half. The lead stretched out to 41-27 on another Purnell basket with 4:40 left in the half.
Eastern Oklahoma closed out the half with a 12-7 run to make the score 53-34.
After the half, the pressure got to the Lady Eagles as Eastern Oklahoma stretched a big lead in the opening minutes of the second half.
MCC scored the first three points of the half, but a 28-5 run led by 11 from Tonya Morris put the Lady Eagles down 39 points with 11:42 left to play.
MCC was unable to come back from the large deficit and Eastern Oklahoma held on for the victory.
Morris scored a game-high 25 points for the visitors, and Purnell added 14 points in the win.
Alford finished with 15 points, and Danielle Cooper added 15 points to lead the Lady Eagles in the loss.
Alabama Southern 61
Coahoma 50
Alabama Southern broke open a tight ball game in the first game of the Rush Invitational at MCC to take a 61-50 win over Coahoma.
The score was just 25-23 at half, but Alabama Southern was able to take the 61-50 victory with a strong second half.
Slyana Smith led Alabama Southern with 17 points while Jessica Cooley scored 12 points for Coahoma in the loss.