By By Rocky Higginbotham
JAN. 13, 2001
As expected, cross-county rivals Southeast and Northeast Lauderdale will battle for the Sam Dale/Walter Ethridge Memorial Tournament girls' championship tonight.
Both shook off slow starts Friday night to get there.
Northeast grabbed the momentum late in the first half of their 64-48 win over Kemper County, while Southeast used a second-quarter burst on its way to a 67-46 win over Enterprise.
Today's girls' action in the round-robin event begins at 4:30 p.m. with Kemper County tangling with Enterprise. Southeast and Northeast are scheduled to lock horns at 7 p.m.
Northeast Lauderdale girls 64, Kemper County 48: Neither team could get anything going early. But Northeast scored seven unanswered points during the final 45 seconds of the first half for a 26-19 lead.
Five players fouled out of the contest four of them Lady Wildcats.
Northeast carried its momentum into the second half, stretching its lead to 17 before Kemper came storming back.
The Lady Wildcats to pulled within 47-40 with five minutes remaining on a basket by Monique Mosley. Kemper even got within six at one point, but Northeast finished the game on a 9-0 run to put it away.
Dorecious Powe had game-highs of 25 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead Northeast. Sophomore Quin Jackson had 22 points and four steals and freshman Crystal Hopson had 10 points and six steals. Tiffany Portis also had six steals for Northeast, which turned the ball over 27 times.
But Kemper turned it over 32 times, falling to 3-16 on the season despite 12 points and nine rebounds from Brooke Hudson. The Lady Wildcats, who lost leading scorer Tamician Davis to an ankle injury in the first quarter, also got eight points, four assists and three steals from Mosley, eight points and 10 rebounds from LaErika Ivy, nine points from Melody Nave and 10 rebounds from Stephanie Nicholson.
Southeast Lauderdale girls 67, Enterprise 46: Monique Horner burned the nets for a game-high 33 points to help Southeast knock off Enterprise.
The Lady Tigers got out of the gate a little slow, but rode the hot hands of Horner and Lesley Ruffin to a 39-24 lead at halftime.
Horner scored 22 of her 33 points in the first half and finished the night with four 3-pointers. Ruffin scored 15 points, 12 of them in the first half, while Kenitta Cooley added seven points.
Shonda Bester led a balanced scoring attack for Enterprise with 11 points. Jerra Cook scored 10, Teela McBride had nine and Chasity Stingley eight.
Rocky Higginbotham is the sports editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rhigginbotham@themeridianstar.com.