By Staff
DOUBLE TEAM n Noxubee County's Shawnequa Rucker passes the ball before running into Clarkdale defenders Tamara Brown (25) and Danielle Gaddis (23) during Frazier-Yarbrough tournament action Tuesday night. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Richard Dark/The Meridian Star
Dec. 13, 2000
For Dan Stegall's Northeast Lauderdale Lady Trojans, the clock seemed to run out just a little too fast.
The Lady Trojans had trouble making high-percentage shots and got down big to the Heidelberg Lady Oilers, before storming back in the closing minutes of the game to cut it to six.
The final horn saw Nedra Hosey's Lady Oilers gain the 57-49 win, but Hosey herself certainly wasn't pleased to be advancing in the Frazier-Yarbrough tournament at Meridian High School in the manner in which she did .
NEL, 7-6, came fighting back hard from a 21-point deficit after three quarters to whittle it down to six.
Heidelberg, 9-5, was able to hold off the Lady Trojans with clutch free throw shooting. Jessica Yates scored a game-high 27 points including nailing 7-of-8 down the stretch to help secure the win.
Dorecious Powe and Quin Jackson led NEL with 17 and 11 points, respectively. It was Powe's stickback that cut the lead to 52-42 with a minute remaining in the contest.
After falling in an eight-point hole at the break, things got worse in the third as the Lady Oilers ripped off an 18-7 run in the frame.
HHS helped themselves out at the charity stripe with 17-of-21 shooting, while NEL made 9-of-17.
Lakeshia Hales added 12 for HHS. NEL's Keshia Sanders and Lady Oiler LaKeshia Hales each chipped in with eight.
Heidelberg 100, Clarkdale 38: The Oilers turned a 20-point halftime lead into a 62-point destruction with help from a 39-9 fourth quarter runaway that saw 13 Oiler players notch points.
Four of them scored in double figures with Lee Jones and Derrick Turner collecting 15 and Billy Wright and Larry Bounds putting 14 and 12 in a contest that was never in doubt.
For the Bulldogs, it was Bryant Gaddis with 13 and Anthony Holliday with 12.
Noxubee girls 80, Clarkdale 31: NHS jumped out to a 20-4 lead after one and coasted to the tourney win.
The Lady Tigers tuned up for the next round as Shawnequa Rucker scored 19, Chaffie Spann 16, Erlexus Cooper 11 and Jessica Mason added 10. The final frame went much like the opener, as NHS outscored the Lady Bulldogs 20-5.
Carmelita Naylor was the leading scorer for CHS with 13, while Arlisha Wright added six.
The tournament resumes Thursday at MHS with Noxubee taking on Choctaw Central at 4 p.m. Heidelberg and Meridian's boys and girls square off at 7 and 8:30.
Two consolation bracket games will be played at Meridian Community College's Ivy Sports Arena.
Richard Dark is a sports writer for the Meridian Star. You can email him at rdark@themeridianstar.com.