By By Robbie Robertson / EMG sports writer
Feb. 24, 2004
NEWTON For about two minutes Monday night, the Newton Lady Tigers had their hands full. But the game quickly turned from there.
Newton used a 21-2 first-quarter run as the Lady Tigers trounced Lumberton 74-51 in the opening round of the Class 2A South State basketball tournament.
Newton improves to 26-9 and will travel to Perry Central to play the Taylorsville-St. Andrew's winner Thursday in a 4 p.m. contest. Lumberton ends the season at 15-12.
After being down 3-2 at the 6:07 mark, the Lady Tigers used a tenacious defense, forcing the Lady Panthers into eight first-quarter turnovers. Those turnovers turned into layups for the Lady Tigers, as they went on a 21-2 run and led 23-5 with 1:22 left in the first.
From that point on, the Lady Tigers were in control of the game, leading 41-23 at the half and 59-35 at the end of the third.
At one point, before mass substitutions, the Lady Tigers led my as many as 33 points.
Ten Lady Tigers scored with Jessica Anderson leading way with 16 points, 12 of those in the first half. Rosalind Jones and Chotsani Henderson each had 11 points, and Whitney Thames added 10 points. Katera Evans added nine points.