By By Jeff Byrd/staff writer
June 23, 2002
The Meridian High Wildcats and Lady Wildcats finished Pool II unbeaten and will advance to Sunday's medal round here in the State Games of Mississippi's basketball competition.
Coach Ernie Watson's Wildcats had an easy day of things beating Laurel 63-40 on Saturday morning. The Cats then got a forfeit win from McAdams who chose not to play its final game.
The Lady Wildcats of head coach Donald Shirley wrapped up a 4-0 sweep of Pool II by beating McAdams 46-38. It was the closest game of pool play for the Meridian.
In the final game of the day, the Northeast Lauderdale Trojans romped past Kemper County to claim second place in the boys pool with a 4-1 record.
NE Lauderdale 76
Kemper County 53
The Trojans capped a good State Games by ripping past Kemper County 76-53 on Saturday night at the Meridian High Physical Education Building.
Northeast finished the games with a 4-1 record. Against Kemper, they got big games from returning starters Kalani White, Marcus Betts and Dekino Winston. The trio combined for 56 points with White leading the way with a game high 29.
Trojan head coach Lewis Lightsey was pleased with the closeout win.
White, a 6-3 forward, was active all over the court. He scored 14 points in the first half and 15 more in the second. He helped spur a 10-0 run that turned a one-point game into a 23-12 lead.
Kemper closed to within four at 29-25 but the Trojans answered with a 9-0 spurt to go up 38-25 by halftime.
A dunk by Winston followed by a three-pointer by Betts knocked the lead out to 21 at 52-31. The Wildcats trimmed it back to 15 at 62-47 but get no closer in the final six minutes.
Winston finished with 16 points, 12 coming off four, three-pointers. Betts had 11.
Terrance Westerfield, Kemper's top scorer all week, was held to tourney low 15 points. The Wildcats finished pool play at 3-2.
Meridian girls 46
McAdams 38
Meridian trailed 20-19 at the half but another strong second half pulled out the win.
The Lady Wildcats finished pool play at 4-0. Valenica Hairston scored 15 points to lead Meridian. Courtney Wade chipped in 10 points off the block. Alexis Clemons and Megan Mendiola had eight each.
F. Brown led McAdams, 2-2, with 14 points.
Meridian boys 63
Laurel 40
Meridian cruised into the medal round with a 23-point win over the visiting Tornadoes. At least five Wildcats scored at least seven points.
Daniel Boyd led Meridian with 10 points. Center Cyrus McGowen followed with nine, Keno Leflore had eight, while Jason Windom and Zack Komisad had seven each. Meridian made 25 field goals in the game.
Laurel, which finished 2-3, got a game high 20 points from Kendrick Smith.
Kossuth 37
Laurel 32
The Kossuth girls finished second in the girls pool with a 3-1 record. They beat Laurel in its final game.
Ashley Jones led Kossuth with 16 points. Ruth Ann Cooper had seven. LaToya Anderson paced Laurel with 15.
Northeast Lauderdale 76
Columbia 52
The Trojans picked up their third win of the State Games by whipping Columbia 76-52.
Kalani White fired in 24 points. Greg Powell added 14 points. Marcus Betts and Dekino Winston added 10.
Kossuth girls 36
Central Academy 13
Latasha Essary scored 10 points to lead Kossuth past Central Academy in an early morning game on Saturday. Ashley Jones chipped in nine.
Central, 0-3, got six points from Olivia Reed.
Laurel boys 63,
Columbia 56
Laurel wrapped up pool play with a 63-56 win over Columbia. The Tornadoes finished the tourney with a 2-3 record. Columbia went 1-4.
Kendrick Smith had 19 points for Laurel. Jarvis McCray added 13.
Kemper County boys 70
McAdams 52
Terrance Westerfield poured in 24 points to lead Kemper County to its third win of the Games. C. Griffin and R. Hopson had eight points each.
A. Brooks paced McAdams, 0-4, with 22 points.
McAdam girls 52
Central Academy 37
Central played its best game of the tourney trailing McAdams by just a point at the half (22-21). McAdams, though, went on a 10-0 run to start the second half and went on to post the 52-37 victory.
D. Brown and A. Brown each scored 13 for McAdams. Meagan Stokes fired in a tourney-best 29 points. Olivia Reed had seven.