By By Rocky Higginbotham/Special to The Star
Jan. 11, 2002
DEKALB Northeast Lauderdale and Kemper County both took opening-round wins in first-day girls' action here at the Sam Dale Tournament, and both did it with outstanding defensive efforts.
Northeast held division rival Quitman to just two points in the entire second quarter on its way to a 43-26 win over the Lady Panthers, while host Kemper County forced Enterprise into 27 turnovers in a 59-31 win over the Lady Bulldogs Thursday night.
The win pushes Northeast into today's 4:30 p.m. semifinal contest against cross-county rival Southeast Lauderdale, which received a bye in the annual tourney. The other girls' semifinal today has Kemper County taking on Class 5A Oak Grove at approximately 7 p.m.
Northeast girls 43
Quitman 26
Coach Dan Stegall's Lady Trojans climbed back above the .500 mark by knocking off Quitman in a contest with a hectic pace that produced few points.
Quitman, behind a tremendous height advantage, trailed just 10-9 after one quarter of action. But the Lady Panthers' only points of the second quarter came on a bucket by Shaquilla Mack, and Northeast used the 9-2 edge for a 19-11 halftime lead.
The Lady Trojans never trailed again in improving to 12-11 on the season.
Northeast had its biggest offensive output in the third quarter with a 14-8 advantage, and the Lady Trojans led by double digits the rest of the way.
Three players scored in double figures for the Lady Trojans, including Crystal Hopson who had a game-high 14 points. Shaquita Bell added 11 points and Quin Jackson chipped in 10.
Mack and Kemonica McGee each scored eight points to lead Quitman.
Kemper County 51
Enterprise girls 32
In the second girls' game of the night, Kemper used a 12-2 run to end the first quarter and never looked back.
Enterprise scored four of the game's first five points, only to see Kemper score 12 of the next 14 to take a 13-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Six straight points by Laretha Love four of them off assists from
Tamician Davis helped Kemper to a 28-14 lead at halftime, and the Lady Wildcats really poured it on in the third quarter.
Enterprise got within 31-19 on a basket in the paint from Kaccy Jimmerson, but that's when Kemper took command.
The Lady Wildcats scored the next 16 points unanswered, getting a driving basket from Davis and a no-look pass from her to Lakashia Coleman to start the run. Candra McCoy added a jumper and Erika White's basket with 3:01 on the clock capped the spurt and made it a 47-19 contest.
The Lady Bulldogs never got any closer than 25 points the rest of the way.
Kemper, which improved to 6-12 with the victory, got a balanced scoring attack led by the 13 points and three steals by Monique Mosley.
Coleman had 10 points, Davis had eight points, seven assists and three steals, Melody Nave scored eight points and both Love and Amanda Grace chipped in with six apiece. McCoy and Coleman shared team-highs with seven rebounds and two blocked shots apiece.
Jimmerson led Enterprise with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Lacey Pittman scored six points for the Lady Bulldogs.