By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Nov. 21, 2001
DECATUR Jones Junior College took two games from Holmes in the East Central Community College Classic Tuesday afternoon.
The Lady Bobcats knocked off Holmes 91-75 in the day's opener with the Jones men posting a 74-57 victory in the second game.
Jones returns to action Tuesday by hosting East Mississippi in Ellisville.
Jones Women 91
Holmes 75
The Lady Bobcats turned a 31-point effort from Taylorsville's Amanda McGill and a 24-rebound advantage into a 16-point victory.
The 91 points are a season high as Jones evened its record at 2-2. Jones outrebounded Holmes 69-45 with Demesha Chambers having a team-high 10 boards.
McGill had 20 points by halftime as Jones carried a 37-29 lead into the break.
Holmes, 2-5, took a 51-50 lead on a layup from Melissa Winters with 13:03 left only to have the Lady Bobcats go on an 8-0 run for a 58-51 lead with 10:28 to play.
Holmes got back to within two at 58-56 on a 3-pointer from Gala Jones with 9:47 remaining.
McGill hit a 3-pointer with 8:12 left and Andrea Austin connected from the top of the key 20 seconds later for a 69-61 Jones lead.
The Lady Bobcats took a double-digit lead with 5:24 to go and eventually led by as much as 19.
McGill was 8-of-12 from the floor, including a 4-of-5 showing from 3-point range. She also made 11-of-12 free throws. Austin had 13 points with Chambers scoring 12. Kim White and Rani Webb had nine apiece.
Monica Lee led Holmes with 13 points with Jennifer Andrews scoring 11. Winters and Lakendra Barksdale added nine apiece.
Jones was 26-of-76 (34.2 percent) from the floor, but made 35-of-47 free throws.
Holmes hit on 28 of its 84 field goals, 33.3 percent and was 12-of-14 at the charity stripe.
Jones Men 74
Holmes 57
Rashaune Walters gave Jones a 52-51 lead with 9:37 remaining and the Bobcats never trailed again as they improved to 3-1.
M.J. Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 7:11 showing and Jermaine Sherman added a lay-in at the 6:23 mark to put Jones up 57-51.
Holmes got a basket from Greg Tucker with 6:01 left, but wouldn't score again until Okenzwa Clark's basket with only 1:18 remaining. By then, the Bobcats had pulled out to a 72-55 advantage.
The Bulldogs had just two points during an eight-minute, 19-second dry spell.
Holmes claimed a 53-41 advantage on the boards.
Jones got 16 points from Walters, 15 from Johnson, 12 from McKinley Bethea, 11 from Nick Paige, and nine from Sherman. Bethea led the Bobcats in rebounds with six. He also had three assists.
Jones shot 36.5 percent from the floor, making 27-of-74 shots. The Bobcats were 11-of-40 from 3-point range, while Holmes made two of its 12 attempts from beyond the arc.
Holmes, 3-4, got 11 points from Tucker and 10 apiece from Clark and Jonathan Asuzu. Clark also had nine rebounds.
Holmes shot 36.5 percent from the floor, making 23-of-63 attempts.
The Bobcats led 41-36 at halftime.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com or call him at 693-1551, ext. 3235.