By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
March 1, 2001
There are a lot of things to do while waiting for games to begin in the Mississippi High School Activities Association's state basketball tournament.
One is to scan through the tournament program, as it has lots of valuable information.
From the did you know' department:
Although Wheeler didn't make it this year, the Eagles still hold the Mississippi public school record for boys and girls with 33 appearances in the state tournament.
Philadelphia is in second place among boys' teams with 25 appearances.
Wheeler also holds the record for most state championships among boys with 11.
On the girls' side, Belmont is making its state-best 28th appearance this year. The Lady Cardinals will play North Mississippi neighbor Baldwyn Saturday at 1 p.m. in semifinal action.
The Lady Bobcats of Bogue Chitto are making their 23rd appearance and now trail second-place Harrison Central by only one trip. Harrison still rules the state when it comes to state championships with 12.
Bogue Chitto faces Montgomery County Friday at 1 p.m. in the Class 1A semifinals.
Ice cream good: Scott Central girls' basketball coach Chad Harrison says the ice cream cones at the Coliseum are as good as ever. He had eaten eight this year by the end of the Neshoba Central-George County girls' game Wednesday night.
Harrison holds the unofficial record for most cones eaten during a tournament which he set last year. Then again, he also held the previous mark.
Something to shoot for: With Southeast Lauderdale's Monique Horner heading to the Big House for Saturday night's game with Choctaw Central, the all-time highest scoring performance by a girl since teams began playing 5-on-5 belongs to Latoya Thomas of Greenville who racked up 43 points in the 1999 tournament. That's just a tad over Horner's 36-point average.
Ironically, the all-time record for a girl during the state tournament belongs to Vimville's Annie Ruth Boswell. She tallied 70 points during the 1936 tournament that Vimville finished runner-up in, losing 55-45 to Camp Ground in the finals.
Girls' teams played 6-on-6 in those days with three offensive players and three defensive players. Players could not cross midcourt.
The top single-game performance by a boy during a state tournament belongs to Jerry Patton of Holly Bluff who canned 56 points in 1974.
Snap: Two long winning streaks came to an end last Friday.
The Choctaw Central Lady Warriors saw their 85-game homecourt win streak end with an 82-75 loss to Hazlehurst in the Class 3A South State semifinals.
The same night, the South Leake Wildcats saw their 29-game win streak snapped with an 85-77 loss to Hinds AHS in the Class 2A South State semifinals.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@meridianstar.com.