East Central signs seven Tuesday

By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
April 9, 2003
DECATUR East Central Community College added five women and two men to its basketball teams for the 2003-04 season in a ceremony at the Brackeen-Wood Physical Education Building Tuesday night.
Women's signees include Kim Cox and Roxana Rogers of Lake, India Backstrom of Neshoba Central, Kotreece Bender of Newton, and Kristin Chaney of Newton County.
Signing with the men are Terrence Westerfield of Kemper County and Andrew Lewis of Morton.
Expected to ink with the Lady Warriors in the next few days are Amanda
LaCaze of Natchitoches (La.) Central and Fran Boyd of St. Fredrick in Monroe, La.
Cox, a 5-foot-7 guard, started for Class 1A state semifinalist Lake. As a
senior, she was named All-South State, was the Division 6-1A Most Valuable Player, and the Scott County Tournament MVP.
Cox is a three-time all-division and a three-time all-Scott County choice. She was a member of Lake's 2001 Class 1A state championship team.
Rogers, another 5-foot-7 guard, averaged 12.2 points, six rebounds, four
assists, and four steals as Lake went 24-6 this winter under coach Bill Ingersoll.
Rogers was named to the 2003 1A all-State Tournament team and the
all-South State Tournament team. She is a three-time all-division and a three-time all-Scott County selection. She was the Scott County MVP in 2001
and played for the 2001 Class 1A state champs.
Backstrom averaged 17.9 points, 8.3 points, and 2.6 steals for coach Noah
Hamilton at Neshoba Central as the Lady Rockets finished 16-14 after an 0-8 start.
Backstrom, a 5-foot-11 forward, was an all-Division 2-4A selection and was named to the ECCC all-tournament team.
Kotreece Bender, a 5-foot-10 guard/forward, helped the Newton Lady Tigers to a 25-11 season that saw coach Crandal Porter's squad reach the Class 2A state semifinals.
Bender averaged 20.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 5.4 assists. As a senior,
she was chosen all-state in Class 2A, was the Division 5-2A MVP, was named to the ECCC all-tournament team, and has been selected for the Mississippi
North/South All-Star Game in July.
Chaney, is a 5-foot-7 guard who played for coach Natalie Vance at Newton
County. As a senior, Chaney averaged 13.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.5 steals,
and 3.2 assists as the Lady Cougars went 18-11.
As a senior, Chaney was named all-state, all-Division 5-3A, and was selected to the ECCC all-tournament team.
Chaney will also sign a softball scholarship at ECCC.
LaCaze is a 5-foot-10 guard at Natchitoches Central, the same school that
produced former ECCC standout Nikki LaCour. NCHS coach Emma Bozeman says LaCaze may be even better than LaCour.
As a senior, LaCaze averaged 20.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. She was a
second-team all-state pick and was first team all-district and all-parrish.
Her team was a state quarterfinalist in 2003.
Boyd is a 6-foot post from Monroe St. Fredrick. She averaged 14.5 points
and 8.7 rebounds as a senior for coach John Merritt.
Boyd was honorable mention all-state as a senior. She was named to the
all-Northeast Louisiana team and was a first-team all-district choice for the
last three years.
Boyd was a part of state quarterfinalist teams in 2000 and 2003. Her
squad won the 2002 state title and was runner-up in 2001. She is a former
high school teammate of current Lady Warrior Rita Birden.
Obviously, having players from winning programs is half the battle in
attaining success at the juco level.
academic side. They're going to fill a lot of holes of what we're missing.
follow their lead on.
ECCC men's coach Bill Smith only signed two players on opening day, but
was proud of the two he got.
grades. They both played on winning teams in the regular season. We're just
looking for some bench help to come in help our sophomores for next year."
Westerfield, a 6-foot-2 guard, was all-Division 5-2A, all-state,
all-South State, and the team MVP at Kemper County. The Wildcats, 19-15,
reached the Class 2A state tournament this year under coach Arthur Carter,
losing to Ruleville Central in the quarterfinals.
Lewis, a 5-foot-11 point guard, helped Morton go 23-7 this winter under
coach Steve Cannon. He was chosen MVP in the Scott County Tournament and was selected to the Division 6-3A all-tournament team.