By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Dec. 18, 2002
West Lauderdale's Knights breezed into halftime with a 21-point lead over Division 5-3A rival Newton County Tuesday night at Collinsville before they chose to settle in for a long winter's nap.
The next thing the Knights knew, the Cougars had clawed back to within 59-52 with 4:48 remaining.
West, 14-0, made 5-of-6 free throws over the next 1:44 to remain unbeaten as the Knights held on for a 69-61 victory.
The Lady Knights continued to run roughshod as they improved to 15-0 with an 85-60 blowout in the opener. All 15 victories have been by double-digit margins.
West boys 69
Newton County 61
The 11th-ranked Knights led 25-12 after one quarter and took a seemingly safe 46-25 lead into halftime behind 15 points from Calvin Moore and eight each from Lee Nelson and Boo Ramsey.
Newton County rallied to within 57-44 by the end of the third period and had whittled its deficit to 59-52 after getting a basket apiece from James Broach, Delvion Merrell, and Craig Pruitt. Mylan Anderson had two assists in the three baskets.
Moore finished with 24 points, Ramsey had 15, Nelson had 14, and Karlos Lewis added six.
Newton County, 4-7, got 19 points from Pruitt, 12 from Merrell, nine each from Broach and Ricardo Alcantar, and eight from Anderson.
West girls 85
Newton County 60
The sixth-ranked Lady Knights held a 39-19 halftime advantage and were leading 74-38 in the fourth quarter before taking the 25-point win.
Kristina Gardner scored a career-high 31 points to lead West, 15-0. She had 10 points in the first quarter as the Lady Knights took an early 14-8 lead. Gardner finished with seven rebounds and was 6-of-9 at the free-throw line.
West also got 16 points from J.J. Huggins, nine each from Amy Frazier and Vankeila Wilson, seven from Cierra Jennings, and six from Shannon Lloyd. Huggins also had nine rebounds.
Newton County, 9-4, got 17 from Andrea Dubose who hit five 3-pointers, 13 from Kristin Chaney, 10 from Phyllis Cole, and seven from Dominique Mapp.