By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
April 9, 2004
DECATUR East Central Community College basketball coaches announced 10 signees for the 2004-05 season with seven of the signees being future Lady Warriors.
Coming in to help defend the Region 23 championship the 2003-04 Lady Warriors won are Kristin Caldwell of Leake Academy, Erica Hardin of Louisville, Dominetrix Hunter of Philadelphia, Heather Steele of Nanih Waiya, April Viverette of Lake, and Lauren White of Union.
Ashley Flint of Class 3A state champion Choctaw Central is expected to sign next week.
"I'm very excited about having this group," ECCC head coach Brad Hodge said. "It's another group that's similar to what we've had in the fact that they come from good coaching and have had opportunities to play for a championship or have been in a championship setting. That's a positive.
"It's a different kind of group than what we've had. Actually, we're probably a lot stronger offensive-skill wise, but there are some differences there athletically.
"It's a group we're excited to have as part of our family here and I look forward to getting after it with them."
Caldwell, a 5-foot-11 forward, averaged 17 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and had 92 blocked shots for the 38-3 Academy Overall runner-up Rebelettes of Leake.
Hunter, a 5-foot-10 forward, averaged 14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds for the 28-6 Lady Tornadoes of Philadelphia as they advanced to the Class 2A State Tournament.
White, a 5-foot-9 guard/forward, averaged 13.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists for the 9-21 Lady Jackets of Union.
Hardin is a 5-foot-7 guard, Steele is a 5-foot-7 guard, and Viverette is a 6-foot-1 center.
Flint, a 5-foot-9 guard, averaged 15.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and had 24 blocked shots.
ECCC men's head coach Bill Smith added three new players Ricardo Alcantar of Newton County, Jacquas Jones of Forest, and Pierre Barlow of Scott Central. Alcantar and Barlow are both guards, while Jones is a forward.
"Hopefully, these three young men can come in and help contribute for us next year," Smith said. "We're counting on them because we've only got four freshmen coming back that will be sophomores.
"We're going to be a very, very young team next year and hopefully these three can come in and help us right away."
Alcantar averaged 18.3 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals for the 18-11 Cougars of Newton County. He was an 88.6 percent free-throw shooter.
Jones helped Forest reach the Class 3A South State Final Four. Barlow led the Rebels of Scott Central to a 27-8 season and a trip to the second round of the Class 1A South State Tournament.
Neither Hodge nor Smith signed any out-of-staters Thursday.
"We've got some kids narrowed down," Smith said. "It's just a question of them deciding whether they're going to sign or not. Everybody's recruiting some of them, but we've got a couple that we think we're going to sign."
"We're still looking," Hodge said. "There's seven signees today and we've got seven returning. Actually, we can only put one more on the roster, but we're going to bring two or three more in. We've got about one need in the out-of-state group and hopefully we can fill that."