By By Robby Atkinson/The Meridian Star
Nov. 9, 2001
The Lady Tigers of Southeast Lauderdale were charged by a second half scoring barrage to take an 86-77 win over Newton County in the second night of the Tip-off Classic at Clarkdale High School.
The Lady Cougars opened the contest with a 5-0 run to take an early lead with 6:05 left in the first quarter of action. All five points came from junior guard Kristin Chaney to get Newton County off to a great start.
The Lady Tigers finally bounced back on the next possession on a basket from Samantha Smith to cut the lead to 5-2 with lots of time left in the quarter. Newton County built its lead off of five Southeast Lauderdale turnovers to take a 15-7 advantage with 2:06 remaining in the first period of play.
The Lady Cougars then used their size to extend the lead to 20-9 with only a minute to play in the opening quarter. Yolanda Johnson provided five points to give Newton County an enormous lead.
Southeast Lauderdale went on an impressive 9-0 run to end the first quarter to only trail Newton County, 20-18. The Lady Tigers were paced on a pair of baskets by Ebony Moore and a huge three-pointer by Lesley Ruffin.
Both teams experienced a very slow second quarter, but Newton County held a 36-31 lead at the halftime break.
Southeast gained its first lead of the night at 37-36 following baskets from Moore and Ruffin. The combination of Moore and Ruffin dominated the third quarter to give the Lady Tigers a 59-51 lead by quarter's end.
Southeast continued its great second half of offense on a big basket from Ruffin to make the score 61-51 with 7:11 left in the contest. Newton County came right back behind a basket from Joy Cavenaugh and a free throw to cut the Southeast Lauderdale lead to 61-54.
Moore brought the ball right back down the floor and made a simple basket to regain the nine-point edge. Newton County was propelled by a pair of baskets from Chaney to make the score 64-60 with 5:46 left in the game.
Fouls would prove to be an extreme factor in the outcome of the game for both clubs. The two teams combined to have seven players foul out of the game to force both squads to resort to the bench for the final minutes.
Southeast Lauderdale eventually won the battle on the free throw line to take an 86-77 win over the Newton County Lady Cougars and push their record to 3-0.
Moore finished the game with 28 points and Ruffin scored 27 for the Lady Tigers. Smith chipped in with 10 points for Southeast.
Johnson led the Lady Cougars with 24 points.
and Chaney had 19 in the loss for Newton County.
Southeast Lauderdale returns to action Saturday when the Lady Tigers square off against Clarkdale in the title game of the Tip-off Classic. The Lady Cougars meet Enterprise in the consolation game on Saturday beginning at 4 p.m.