Lady Hornets down Newton

By By Rocky Higginbotham/special to The Star
Feb. 27, 2002
JACKSON After turning in a 49-point performance in the North State Tournament last week, Jazmine Cain of John F. Kennedy High School was sure to attract plenty of attention in this week's Class 2A Girls State Tournament.
Newton High's Lady Tigers quickly found out, however, that there is more to the Mound Bayou-based Lady Hornets than Cain.
Mound Bayou got outstanding efforts from Cain, Camille Norwood and Nakeisha Fipps Tuesday morning, dispatching Newton 60-40 in an opening-round, Class 2A state tourney game here at the Mississippi Coliseum.
Porter's Lady Tigers and the Lady Hornets were already battling the not-so-friendly 9 a.m. start time for their state tourney contest which was led by Mound Bayou from the midway point of the first quarter until the final buzzer.
The Lady Tigers had 24 turnovers in the contest and were uncharacteristically out-rebounded 40-29 by the hustling bunch of Lady Hornets.
Mound Bayou got 24 points, 14 rebounds, six steals and five blocked shots from Cain, but Norwood was just as impressive with eight points, seven rebounds, 12 assists and six steals.
Fipps scored 12 points and had nine rebounds, and Tiffany Briggs chipped in seven points and eight boards for the Lady Hornets.
Three of those assists from Norwood came during an 8-0 run for JFK-Mound Bayou in the second quarter, one which gave the Lady Hornets a 28-16 advantage.
Mound Bayou was up 32-24 at halftime, then opened the third quarter with a 7-2 run. A putback from Fipps and a basket by Cain stretched the lead to 14, and the Lady Hornets carried a 49-35 lead into the final quarter.
Actually, that was as close as Newton came the rest of the way. The Lady Tigers were down 55-40 with just under three minutes remaining after a basket from Tonya Jordan but never scored again.
Jordan finished with seven points and four steals for Newton, which had team-highs of 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots from Lenora Gray. Creoshia Williams and Twila Clayton scored six points apiece, Kotreece Bender had five points, five rebounds and six assists and Clayton handed out three assists, as well.
Newton's girls finished 27-7 and will drop five seniors from this year's squad including starters Jordan and Gray.
A disappointed Porter gave his squad one last pat on the back.
Mound Bayou, which improved to 29-8, moves into Saturday's 6:30 p.m. semifinal contest against East Marion.