By Staff
From staff reports
FEB. 12, 2001
NEW HOPE For the third time this season, the Louisville Wildcats seemed to have an edge over the Neshoba Central Rockets.
Louisville defeated Neshoba Central 59-50 in the opening night of play in the Division 2-4A Tournament Monday.
Neshoba Central (16-13) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first minute-and-a-half of play and clinched the first quarter with a 16-10 advantage.
Louisville (18-11) recovered in the second by outscoring the Rockets, 15-8. The Wildcats took a slim 25-24 first half lead.
According to Porter, due to the previous two games against Neshoba, his team could not survive with erroneous play.
In the second half, Louisville outscored Neshoba 34-26, even though the Rockets made a run and pulled within three points with 1:21 remaining.
Andre Coleman led Louisville with 12 points, all of which were 3-pointers, and Greg Hughes and Bryant Thomas added 11 points apiece.
Neshoba Central's Tawon Walker led all scorers with 23 points. Junior post player Calvin Parker added 14, going 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Louisville will face top-seeded Aberdeen Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Aberdeen has defeated the Wildcats three times in three meetings this season.
Neshoba Central girls 74, Kosciusko 41: The second-seeded Lady Rockets of Neshoba were never threatened
by the Lady Whippets of Kosciusko.
Neshoba took a commanding 24-9 first quarter lead and followed it with a 40-20 first-half advantage.
Kosciusko shot 50 percent from the free-throw line, while Neshoba sank 9-of-16.
Neshoba Central senior point guard Tausha Evans made seven 3-pointers as she led all scorers with 30 points. Krystal Wells also added 18 points for the Lady Rockets.
The Lady Whippets were led by Marketta Foby with 18 points and Katherine Potts with 11.
The Lady Rockets will play Aberdeen, who defeated West Point 84-55 Monday afternoon, in Thursday's semifinals at 4 p.m.