By Staff
CHAMPIONS Basketball Commissioner Ernie Watson presents Northeast Lauderdale's high scorer Marcus Betts with a gold medal. Northeast Lauderdale won the State Games of Mississippi championship Sunday with an 86-66 victory over Newton. Photo by Carisa McCain/The Meridian Star
By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
June 25, 2001
The State Games of Mississippi high school basketball competition appears to be turning into the Lauderdale County Invitational.
One year after Meridian High School won both the girls' and boys' gold medals, a pair of Lauderdale County schools won their first-ever State Games championships Sunday in the finals at Meridian Community College's Ivy Sports Center.
West Lauderdale's girls turned in arguably their best performance of the past four days with a 52-22 win over Newton High to claim their first-ever gold, then the boys from Northeast Lauderdale made it a county sweep with an 86-66 win over Newton.
Northeast's boys also reached the gold-medal round with a win over Meridian on the Wildcats' home floor earlier Sunday.
Rocky Higginbotham is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551, ext. 3234, or e-mail rhigginbotham@themeridianstar.com.