Windham's clutch free throws lift
Cougars past WL

By Staff
January 14, 2004
By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
DECATUR Newton County's Willie Windham provided a moment of splendor to an otherwise hideous finish in Tuesday's Division 5-3A basketball game with West Lauderdale.
Windham knocked down all four of his free throws during the final 1:22 as the Cougars battled back from a 15-point first-half deficit to claim a 60-57 victory.
After taking a 54-48 lead on a backdoor layup by Craig Pruitt with 2:24 left, with the exception of Windham, the Cougars closed the game with three turnovers, an airball, and a missed front end of a one-and-one.
West closed to within one point on two occasions despite missing six free throws over the final 2:13.
Clinging precariously to a 56-55 lead with 17.2 seconds left, Windham canned two free throws for a 58-55 advantage.
Daniel Huggins worked the ball down the sideline and drove for a basket with six seconds left to trim the Cougar lead to one.
West called timeout with 5.2 seconds to go. The Cougars inbounded the ball, West never fouled, and Ottis Harrison got open in the frontcourt for an uncontested layup as time ran out.
Poor free-throw shooting plagued the Knights throughout the contest.
"We were 7-for-25 from the line," West coach Duran Clark said. "I guess we were fortunate to even have a chance when you shoot like that.
"Hopefully, this is going to be our growing up game. We've got to play four quarters. We played a great 16 minutes and quit the second 16 minutes, which is our trademark.
"Hopefully, we're going to learn from it."
The Knights, 15-6 overall, fell to 1-3 in 5-3A.
Newton County (15-4, 3-1) got 17 points from Ricardo Alcanter, 11 from Pruitt, 10 from Harrison, and eight from James Broach.
"West Lauderdale came prepared to play," Newton County coach Johnny Slaughter said. "My kids were talking like they were ready, but they weren't ready.
"At halftime, I really didn't say anything. I think they knew how I felt. They came out and battled, but whether they won or lost, I just wanted them to fight. I told them if we didn't get out and fight and scrap, they were going to beat us to death and they can put that thing in the bank on you if you're not careful.
"We fought and we scrapped and I'm proud of the effort."
Huggins led West with 16 points, while Chris Seaphus had 12. Mark Ford hit three 3-pointers in tallying 10 points.
West (girls) 59
Newton County 47
The Lady Knights carried a 10-point lead into halftime and made it stand up as they improved to 15-5 overall and 2-2 in 5-3A.
West led 13-9 after one quarter and padded its lead to 27-17 by the midway break.
Newton County battled to within five points late in the third quarter and six in the first minute of the final period before a 3-pointer from Vankeila Wilson and back-to-back layups by Whitney Gale effectively settled the outcome.
"We needed this win tonight," West head coach Jody Hurst said. "We've got to go on the road and win a few to have an opportunity in the district.
"We got off to a good start and got a 10-point lead. Newton County really battled and played well in the third quarter.
"We were able to get some runouts and make some layups and hold on at the end."
Wilson and Cierra Jennings led West with 14 points apiece. Shannon Lloyd scored 11 and Kaihia Fitch had seven.
Newton County (11-7, 1-3) got 28 points from Andrea Dubose and seven from Dominique Mapp.
"Dubose is a really good basketball player, probably one of the better ones in our district," Hurst said. "We didn't do a good job of keeping her off the boards."