By By Jim Luke/The Meridian Star
Dec. 19, 2001
NOXAPATER The home-standing Noxapater Tigers ran into an offensive buzzsaw here Tuesday night as they dropped a pair of division games to the McAdams Bulldogs. McAdams won the girls game 71-45 and took the boys contest by a score of 72-32.
In the girls game, the Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an early 9-0 lead and responded every time the Lady Tigers would begin to get rolling offensively with an offense outburst of their own. McAdams nailed seven three-point shots in the game and was able to work the ball inside for points.
Noxapater coach Corey Cleveland was pleased with the overall effort of his team, especially because he felt that McAdams had a physical advantage over his girls.
One bright spot that Cleveland was able to find in the game was his offense, especially after making some adjustments to what they were doing at halftime.
The Lady Tigers do not have much depth this year and are depending on the starting five that is made up of two seniors, two juniors, and one sophomore.
The loss drops Noxapater to 4-9 overall and 1-1 in division play, but even there Cleveland sees a silver lining.
The Lady Tigers were led offensively by Deidre Triplett with 16 points while Krystal Hunter added 12 and Stephanie Blankenship had 10.
Tikeshia Brown led all scorers in the game with 20 points for McAdams. Felicia Brown had 17 points and Debra Brown added 13.
The Bulldogs exploded offensively in the first quarter to take a 26-6 lead and continued to score in spurts in the contest.
The Tigers were unable to get into an offensive flow against the bigger and more physical Bulldogs.
Kenny Miller led the scoring in the game with 17 points for McAdams with Fred Unger adding 13 and Kendrick Lusk 10.
Noxapater was led by Jonathan Hunter with 11 points and Corey Coward with 9.
McAdams will be back in action Friday in a division battle at Ray Brooks while Noxapater will host Nanih Waiya Friday night.