By Staff
ON THE MOVE
West Lauderdale's Kristina Gardner (44) rushed past Greene County defense to the goal during the South State Tournament Friday night.
CARISA MCCAIN/ THE MERIDIAN STAR
By Austin Bishop/EMG regional sports editor
Feb. 23, 2002
Call it presumptuous, a premonition or just confidence.
Two hours before West Lauderdale's 72-59 win over Greene County in the Class 3A South State Girls Tournament, which clinched a trip to the State Tournament in Jackson, Lady Knight's assistant coach Twyla Hurst was selling t-shirts that boldly proclaimed "The Drought is over."
On the t-shirt is a drawing of the Mississippi Coliseum, fondly referred to as the Big House by prep basketball fans. Underneath the rendition are the words "West Lauderdale Lady Knights' takin' it to the house."
She wasn't.
The Lady Knights scored the first 11 points of the second half to build a 19-point lead on the way to the win. It is the first time West Lauderdale has qualified for the State Tournament since the 1990-91 season.
But for now, that will have to wait.
Next up for West Lauderdale is a much-awaited re-match with the Heidelberg High School Lady Oilers for the 3A South State Championship today at 3:30 p.m. Heidelberg took a 69-58 win over Hazlehurst in the other semifinal match played at WL.
Today's 2 p.m. game features Hazlehurst and Greene County, with the winner advancing to Jackson and the loser being eliminated.
Although West Lauderdale took the big lead early in the third quarter, the visiting Lady Wildcats fought back behind several long bombs, cutting the West lead to nine points with 1:30 left in the game.
The Lady Knights were also 14-of-28 from the free-throw line, but lucky for West Lauderdale that never really came into play.
The game was tight in the early going, with WL holding a 14-13 lead late in the fourth quarter, before the Lady Knights scored two buckets in the final 20 seconds to go up by five at the end of the first break.
The winners stretched it to 27-16, before Greene County again fought back to close the game to eight at the half at 38-30.
Then came the 11-point run seven from junior Kristina Gardner to begin the third quarter to put the Lady Knights up 49-30.
West Lauderdale led 57-44 at the end of the third quarter.
JaWanda Huggins had a huge game inside, leading the winners with 23 points, while Gardner hit for 19 and J.J. Huggins scored 12. Patty Monroe had eight for the Lady Knights, while Shannon Lloyd added eight.
Dayshia McCann knocked down four three-pointers on the way to a 14-point effort for Greene County, while Bridgett Lockhart had a trio of three-pointers and 11 points. Crystal Woullard scored 10, while Cristy Mathews added nine.
Heidelberg 69,
Hazlehurst 58
The Lady Oilers fell behind by nine points in the first half, but fought back to take the 11-point win, assuring themselves of a spot in the State Tournament.
Hazlehurst led 21-12 with 4:01 to play in the second quarter, but the Lady Oilers went on a 12-1 run to go up 24-22 on a three-point play senior Jessica Yates.
Heidelberg held a 28-26 lead at the half, but the Lady Oilers began to take control, leading 49-37 after three quarters of play.
The Lady Indians fought back to cut it to 55-50 with 5:17 left in the game, before Heidelberg responded to put the game away.
Sophomore guard Princess Bender scored 27 points to lead Heidelberg, while Catina Fowler scored 14 and Yates added 10. Victoria Richardson led Hazlehurst with 18 points, while Aiesha Collins scored 14.