By By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
Feb. 3, 2001
Kemper County's boys moved one step closer to the regular-season Division 5-3A crown Friday night, but the Wildcats needed their best offensive output of the season to do it.
Kemper overcame 17 3-pointers from Southeast Lauderdale, outscoring the host Tigers 94-77 in a division showdown.
Southeast's Lady Tigers captured the girls' contest, beating the Lady Wildcats 84-54 to move within one victory of finishing second in the regular-season division race.
Kemper County's boys, who have won 10 games in a row, are 21-8 overall and 5-0 in division play. Southeast is 3-25 and 0-5.
The Southeast girls have won 15 of their last 16 and are 23-7 and 3-2, while Kemper's Lady Wildcats are 5-22 and 1-4. Kemper County visits West Lauderdale Tuesday for its final Division 5-3A action of the season, while Southeast is at home again Tuesday against Quitman.
Kemper County boys 94, Southeast Lauderdale 77: The Tigers hit 17 long balls on the night, including 10 by Anthony Horner, who scored a game-high 37 points and five more by Ben Reed, who pumped in 21.
Southeast was 17-of-41 from downtown, a percentage of 41.4 that most college coaches dream about. But the Tigers struggled defensively, giving up at least 20 points in every quarter.
In fact, 13 of the 15 players on Kemper's roster scored. Chris Davis led the way with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Derrick Boyd had 13 points and eight boards. James Moore scored 10 and dished out eight assists and Terrance Westerfield also scored 10.
Kenny Boyd added nine points and seven boards, RonTerrian Dale had nine points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots and Mario Smoot scored eight.
A 35-footer by Horner at the end of the first quarter brought Southeast within 25-21, but Moore's steal and slam dunk sparked a 10-0 run by Kemper that helped the Wildcats open up a 37-24 advantage in the second.
Kemper led 45-31 at halftime and 72-62 heading into the fourth. Southeast cut it to 11 on three consecutive 3-pointers by Reed, but Dale threw down a dunk and Smoot hit back-to-back bombs for Kemper that gave the Wildcats a 19-point edge and forced SEL coach Ryan Miller into a timeout.
Horner also had nine rebounds to go with 37 points, and Reed had a couple of steals to go with his 21.
Southeast Lauderdale girls 84, Kemper County 54: The Lady Tigers scored the first 20 points of the game and held a commanding 29-2 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Monique Horner was 14-of-24 from the field and finished with a game-high 39 points and 15 rebounds to lead Southeast. Horner, who was 6-of-13 from 3-point range and 5-of-5 at the free throw line, also had six assists and five steals.
Samantha Smith added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Lady Tigers, while Lesley Ruffin had seven boards and three assists and Kenitta Cooley seven rebounds.
Kemper lost despite 18 points from Brooke Hudson and 16 points, four assists and four steals from Monique Mosley. LaErika Ivy also scored eight points for Kemper and Candra McCoy had 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Rocky Higginbotham is the sports editor for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rhigginbotham@themeridianstar.com.