By Staff
Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
HITTING THE BOARDS Northeast Lauderdale's Jamaal Martin puts up a jumper against West Lauderdale's Andre Adams.
By Robby Atkinson/The Meridian Star
Nov, 17, 2001
West Lauderdale's boys and girls basketball teams swept past Northeast Lauderdale in the 2001 Lauderdale County Tournament being played at Meridian Community College.
The Lady Knights took a 59-37 win over Northeast. West improved to 3-1 overall on the season while the Lady Trojans fell to 3-4. Meanwhile, the West Lauderdale boys had much of the same success by upending Northeast, 66-62.
In the other action of the tournament, Southeast Lauderdale recorded a sweep of Clarkdale in the late games. The Lady Tigers had an impressive win over Clarkdale by a final of 75-52, and the boys from Southeast had a 73-42 victory over the Bulldogs. Clarkdale will meet West Lauderdale in the third and final day of the tournament while Northeast and Southeast will square off. Southeast Lauderdale and Northeast will tip off at 4 p.m.
West 59
Northeast 37
Despite a slow first half, the Lady Knights ignited in the second half to take a second round 59-37 win over Northeast.
The Lady Knights will meet Clarkdale and try to go undefeated in the tournament. "They are a good team and they have improved a lot," Hurst added.
The Lady Trojans did have the early advantage with a 7-4 lead behind a basket from Shaquita Bell to pace Northeast with 4:04 left in the first quarter. Northeast played tough defense and forced a couple of turnovers that changed into points as they took a 10-4 lead.
But West Lauderdale climbed back into the game behind J.J. Huggins and trail 11-10 at the end of the first quarter. The offense finally got going for West Lauderdale as they took a 24-19 edge at the halftime break.
The second half was a great one for the Lady Knights as they rode the shooting of Kristina Gardner and Patty Monroe. Gardner led the Lady Knights with 17 points and Monroe followed with 13. Jawanda Huggins chipped in with 11 points in the victory for the Lady Knights. Bell led the offesne for Northeast with 16 points and Latoya Pringle added eight points in the loss for the Lady Trojans.
West 66
Northeast 62
The Trojans started fast, scoring on eight three-point shots, but quickly cooled down as the Knights took the four point win over Northeast.
Dekenno Winston started the three-point barrage for Northeast by nailing three in a row. Northeast led 23-18 at the half behind the hot hand of Winston. The Knights finally got things rolling in the right direction and took their first lead at 53-51 behind a basket by Andre Adams with 1:02 left in the third quarter.
From that point, everything seemed to roll the Knights' way as Duran Clark and company scored the slim win. Calvin Moore and Boo Ramsey both scored 17 points to lead the offense for West Lauderdale while Adams added 12 points in the win. Jamaal Martin had 20 huge points in the loss for the Trojans while Winston and Stephen Dyess each had 11 points for Northeast.
Southeast 75
Clarkdale 52
The Lady Tigers got their first win of the tournament by knocking off the Lady Bulldogs 75-52. Southeast led 30-26 at the half. The Lady Tigers continued the attack on the hot hand of Kenitta Cooley as the Lady Tigers got the big win.
Cooley led the Lady Tigers with 25 points and Sam Smith came in with 10 points in the win for Southeast. Tamara Brown had 15 points for the Lady Bulldogs while Felicia Kirksey had 12 points in the loss.
Southeast 73
Clarkdale 42
The boys squad from Southeast also picked up their first win of the tournament by defeating Clarkdale. The Tigers led at halftime by a score of 46-17 and never looked back. Nehemiah Nwankpah led the Tigers with 19 points while Ben Reed had another big night with 17 points. Brandon Mabry had 12 points in the loss for Clarkdale followed by Rocky Kirksey with six points in the loss for the Bulldogs.