By By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
Dec. 20, 2000
Southeast Lauderdale girls' coach Joe Miller has been looking for someone to step up inside all season long.
And while none of the Lady Tigers had earth-shattering statistics Tuesday night, Southeast did control the paint.
Southeast outrebounded Kemper County by 15 and placed three players in double figures, knocking off the visiting Lady Wildcats 76-48.
It was the final pre-Christmas contest for both of the squads, as Southeast improved to 10-6 and Kemper dropped to 3-11.
Monique Horner scored a game-high 29 points and contributed 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Lady Tigers, while Ruffin knocked down a trio of three-pointers on her way to a 13-point, four-assist, three-steal night.
Mitchell (10 points, eight boards) and Ebony Moore (six points, 10 rebounds) both freshmen combined for 16 points and 18 rebounds for Miller, while Kenitta Cooley pitched in six points and eight rebounds.
Southeast used three's from Horner and Ruffin to open up a 10-point advantage in the first quarter, although Kemper closed the gap to 21-15 heading into the second period.
There, Southeast scored the first nine points, stretching its lead to 30-15 on a three-pointer by Horner with 4:59 left in the first half. The Lady Tigers were up 38-21 at halftime.
The third quarter was more of the same, as Southeast scored the first eight points of the period to really blow things open.
Kemper got no closer than 20 points in the final period.
The Lady Wildcats lost despite a solid effort out of junior guard Tamician Davis, who scored 16 points, had seven rebounds and five assists. Monique Mosley added 11 points, five assists and five steals and Melody Nave scored nine points. Stephanie Nicholson grabbed nine rebounds and LaErika Ivy pulled down eight.