Friday, January 30, 2003
Wildcats tops in South after 92-59 blowout over Warriors PRCC avenges Dec. 5 road losses with sweep over ECCC;
Lady Wildcats improve to 5-3 in division with 69-60 victory

     POPLARVILLE   Pearl River Community College's Wildcats took over sole
possession of first place in the men's MACJC South Division basketball derby here
Thursday, blowing out East Central 92-59 in M.R. White Coliseum.
     PRCC entered the contest as deadlocked with Southwest for the division lead, but
the Bears fell 80-72 to Hinds on Thursday moving the Wildcats to the top spot. With the lopsided victory, the Pearl River men avenged their 81-77 loss to ECCC to open both squads' division schedule in Decatur on Dec. 5. PRCC improved to 16-3 overall and 6-2 in league play, while the Warriors dropped to 10-8 and 4-4.
     The Lady Wildcats opened the night's action with a hard-fought 69-60 victory over
the Lady Warriors to improve to 15-4 overall and 5-3 in the division, while ECCC dropped to 10-8 and 4-4. East Central's women took a nine-point victory of its own Dec. 5 at home with a 65-56 win over PRCC, marking the Lady Wildcats' first defeat of the season.
     In the men's game, Pearl River's offense managed only four points in the first five
minutes of the contest and meanwhile East Central had jumped out to a 12-4 lead.
But Justin Miller of North Forrest got the Wildcats uncorked with his first bucket of the night to kick off a 17-7 run that gave the Wildcats the lead for good at 21-19 with 9:10 left in the half.
     East Central kept it close over the ensuing minutes. At the 2:20 mark, Donzell
Crenshaw sank a pair of free throws to cut PRCC's lead to 30-25, but the Wildcats
answered with seven unanswered points to grab a 37-25 lead   it's largest of the first
half at the intermission.
     The two teams exchanged baskets for the first six minutes of the second half, but
then Pearl River began to pull away. Carlos Cole of Hattiesburg High made good on a
three-point play with 13:00 left to put PRCC up 53-37, kicking off 22-7 run that built
the Wildcats' lead to 65-43. Scott Martin of Forrest County AHS scored with 2:05 left to put the Wildcats up by 30, then Renard Elzy of Bay High scored back-to-back buckets in the final seconds to end the scoring and give PRCC its biggest lead of the night at 33 points.
     Yandell Brown of Eastman, Ga., paced the Wildcats with a game-high 25 points (one trey), while Keesler Johnson of Hattiesburg High added a season-high 15 and hauled in 11 rebounds. Ray Selvage of Baton Rouge added 13 points and grabbed a game-high 15 boards, while Jeremy Bragg of Baton Rouge scored with a pair of three pointers. Elzy and Miller added four each, while Scott Fletcher of Petal hit a trey). Jonathan Williams of Stone County, and Martin and Kitt Jones, also of FCAHS, added two each.
     Corey Hornsby paced ECCC with 17, while Donzell Crenshaw added 10, Demario Qualls nine, Kevin Bobbitt eight (two treys), Desmond Jones six, and Colt Aldison, Reggie Carter, and Chris Morgan, two a piece.
     From the foul line, PRCC was 10 of 17 (59 percent), while East Central was nine of 17 (53 percent).
     Southwest, which will host PRCC Monday in Summit, dropped to second in the South at 5-3, while Meridian (79-71 winner over Copiah-Lincoln Thursday) is a half game back at 4-3. Mississippi Gulf Coast, East Central, and Jones (72-52 loser to Gulf Coast Thursday) are now 4-4, while Hinds is 3-5 and Co-Lin is 2-6.
     In the women's game, East Central led early, but Kim Winfrey of Oak Grove sank
a basket with 14:05 left in the half to give PRCC a 6-5 edge. A jumper by Liz Palmer
of Oak Grove three minutes later put the Lady Wildcats up by six, but ECCC's Monique Overstreet answered with one of her five treys on the night to kickoff 14-6 run to put the Lady Warriors up 20-17 with 6:30 left before the intermission. Overstreet hit back-to-back treys at the tail end of the catch
up run.
     The Lady Wildcats quickly battled back. PRCC's Samantha Flennory of North Forrest hit two foul shots with 1:17 left to regain the lead at 27-26, then Jancsi Newsome of Petal hit a free throw 15 seconds later to end the first-half scoring with the Lady 'Cats up 28-26.
     Audosha Kelley of Savannah, Ga., scored seven of her game-high 22 points in the first three minutes of the second half to build PRCC's lead to 39-29, then the sophomore guard sank two free throws with 3:27 remaining gave the Lady Wildcats their largest lead of the game at 67-53. ECCC ended the game with a 7-2 run, but came up nine points short of victory.
     Kelley was impressive the entire game, sinking two treys and snatching six rebounds and two steals, while Flennory added eight (six rebounds, four assists). Kira Tillman of Poplarville went four-of-five from the field for eight points, while Newsome (one trey, five rebounds) and Stephanie Gonzales (one trey, five rebounds) of Hattiesburg added seven each.
Kristie McKinley of Hattiesburg High scored six, including a four-of-four effort at the foul line and a game-high total of eight boards, while Winfrey scored five, Monique Dale of South Jones four, and Palmer two. 
     Monique Overstreet paced East Central with 19 points, including a five-of-eight effort from three-point range, while Kimyatta Viverette added 11 (11 rebounds, five blocks), Britney Burks 10, Ebone'e Leverette eight, Miranda Rosar four, Patsy McKee and Elyse Willis, three each; and Lenore Gray two.
     From the foul line, PRCC was 12 of 17 (71 percent), while East Central was 12 of 21 (57 percent).
     The Lady Wildcats hit 43 percent (27 of 63) from the field (30 percent   10 of 33 in first half, 57 percent   17 of 30 in second half), while hitting 50 percent (three of six) from three-point range. East Central hit 36 percent (20 of 56) from the field, while hitting 47 percent (seven of 15) from three-point range.
     Copiah-Lincoln's nationally-ranked Lady Wolves tops the division race with a perfect 8-0 mark following their 92-66 demolition of Meridian Thursday, while Southwest, Gulf Coast, East Central, and Pearl River are now tied for second with 5-3 league marks. Meridian is 2-5, followed by Jones and Hinds, which remain winless at 0-7 and 0-8, respectively.
     Six more South Division foes   all in succession   are on line for Pearl River to
wrap-up its regular season. Southwest plays host in Summit Monday, Feb. 3 (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.), while Mississippi Gulf Coast visits Thursday, Feb. 6 (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.). Co-Lin plays host Feb. 10, while Hinds visits Feb. 13. PRCC takes on Meridian on the road Feb. 17, following by a visit from Jones Feb. 20 in the regular
season finale.
     The women's and men's 2003 MACJC State Tournaments will be held Feb. 24-27
at the women's South Division champions' home court, while this year's Region XXIII
events will be held March 3-6 at Mississippi College in Clinton.