By By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
Jan. 17 2001
PHILADELPHIA There have been plenty of memorable moments during the girls' winning streak at Choctaw Central that is now 79 games strong.
Add Tuesday night's Division 5-3A showdown with Southeast Lauderdale to the list.
In a contest that was truly a tale of two halves for Southeast, Choctaw won a 91-78 shootout despite a fairy-tale effort of 48 points from Monique Horner.
Choctaw Central's boys rolled up an 85-50 win in the nightcap to complete the sweep.
Southeast steps outside division play when it goes to cross-county rival Clarkdale Friday, while Choctaw Central has two more big ones at home with West Lauderdale Friday.
Choctaw Central girls 91, Southeast Lauderdale 78: The first and second halves of this contest were like night and day, with the second half keeping the big crowd on the edge of its seat.
The result? Southeast turned the ball over 20 times. The Lady Tigers fell behind by as many as 29 points and were down 48-21 at halftime.
Southeast didn't win, but Horner and her teammates made it interesting.
The Lady Tigers opened the second half with a 13-2 run to make it respectable, only to see Choctaw heat up from the outside again and roll to a 65-41 lead that forced Miller into a timeout late in the third quarter.
That's when Horner took over, scoring 30 of her 48 points in the final 9:07 of the contest. She knocked down six 3-pointers in that span, including one that pulled her team within 10.
Still, it was the first half that doomed Southeast, which saw a 10-game winning streak come to an end. The Lady Tigers are now 18-7 overall and 1-2 in division play. Choctaw Central is 19-3 and 3-0.
The Lady Warriors got 25 points from Crystal Lewis, who also dished out nine assists and had three steals. Shavon Willis who was 6-of-9 from 3-point range finished with 20 points, while Chantay Frazier had 14 points and seven rebounds. Melinda Ben had a big all-around night with eight points, 10 rebounds, five steals and four assists, Deaundrea Johnson had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Trish Phillips threw in seven points and seven rebounds.
The win also avenged one of Choctaw Central's losses: The Lady Warriors fell in a 75-74 thriller at Southeast earlier this season.
Horner's final stat line included 48 points, nine rebounds and six assists. She was 8-of-20 from 3-point range. Lesley Ruffin added 12 points and eight boards for the Lady Tigers and freshman Ebony Moore had eight points, 15 rebounds and three steals. Shalonda Mitchell, another freshman, had eight points and six rebounds and Kenitta Cooley had 10 rebounds.
Southeast, by the way, finished with 21 turnovers 20 of them in the first half.
Choctaw Central boys 85, Southeast Lauderdale 50: The improving Warriors picked up their eighth victory of the season and improved to 2-1 in division play by knocking off the Tigers.
Choctaw Central, now 8-14 overall, outscored Southeast in all four quarters.
Jason Shumake, who was 8-of-12 from the field, scored 16 points to lead Choctaw as did Braden Sam. Kinsley Henry scored 14, Giovann Dixon had eight, Tony Garcia seven and Corey Sam six.
Ben Reed led the 2-21 Tigers with 17 points. Doug Rowe added nine points and five steals, Anthony Horner scored seven and Jonathan Russell chipped in six.
Rocky Higginbotham is the sports editor for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rhigginbotham@themeridianstar.com.