By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Dec. 10, 2000
HEIDELBERG The host Lady Rebels of Heidelberg Academy and the Kemper Academy Rams were the top dogs in the Heidelberg Academy Christmas Tournament Saturday night.
Heidelberg beat Sylva-Bay 70-49 for the girls' championship, while Kemper popped Newton County Academy 71-54 in the boys' finals.
Kemper boys 71, Newton 54: After a dismal first quarter in which they managed only five points, the Rams came alive in the second period, turning a 10-5 deficit into a 21-19 halftime lead.
Kemper then outscored NCA 50-35 in the second half to improve to 9-1.
An inspired John Alan Darnell led Kemper with 25 points. Ty Harbour scored 18, Justin Robertson had 14, and Eddie Keaton tossed in 12.
Newton, 6-5, got 19 points from Jason Frith, 16 from Daniel Champion, and seven from Nathan Stamper.
Heidelberg girls 70, Sylva-Bay 49: After a first quarter deadlock at 14-14, the Lady Rebels steadily began pulling away from Sylva-Bay in taking the championship by 21 points.
Heidelberg led 34-28 at halftime, opened the second half with a 10-6 run to take a double-digit lead, and was up 53-38 to start the fourth quarter.
Heidelberg, which had lost two previous games to Sylva-Bay by three and five points, got 22 points from Shana Thornton, 20 from Suzanne Lightsey, 11 from Ashlie McInnis, seven from Katie Barnett, and five each from Courtney Herrington and JoAnna Shoemaker.
Barnett had 11 rebounds, Thornton had nine, Shoemaker had seven, and Lightsey had six. Herrington turned in eight steals as Heidelberg improved to 6-5. Not a bad way to finish a week that began with an 81-42 loss at Leake Academy on Monday.
Sylva-Bay, 11-4, got 21 points from Katye Tubb and 11 from Amber Carlisle.
Central girls 49, Newton 34: The Lady Vikings jumped on Newton for a 13-2 first quarter advantage in taking the consolation game victory.
Central led 24-11 at halftime and was up 37-18 through three quarters. The Lady Vikings got 12 points from Leslie Hancock, 11 each from Carrie Coker and Margaret McClure, and seven from Megan Stokes as they improved to 8-9.
Newton, 7-8, got 12 points from Ashley Callaghan and eight from Brandi Upton.
Wayne boys 44, Sylva-Bay 43 : Steven Wood's layup with 33 seconds left put the Jaguars up 44-43 and they held off the Saints to improve to 3-5 with the consolation game win.
Wayne led 11-10 after one quarter only to have the Saints take a 30-16 lead into halftime. The Saints were outscored 28-13 in the second half to drop to 7-4. Wood led Wayne with 15 points. Brant Sturdivant and Barrett Tynes both scored 10 and Cory Cochran added nine.
Andres Norvell scored 17 and Kaleb Deese had 16 for Sylva-Bay.