Panthers advance to final

By By Steve Swogetinsky / special to The Star
Feb. 20, 2004
QUITMAN The Quitman High Panthers held Wayne County scoreless in the final quarter Thursday night as they advanced to the Division 5-4A championship game with a 40-32 win
The Panthers, now 21-11, will take on top-seeded Mendenhall in the title game which tips off at 8:30 p.m. Mendenhall slipped past Northeast Lauderdale, 62-59. Wayne County and Northeast Lauderdale will play in the consolation game, which starts at 5:30 p.m.
In the girls bracket, the top-seeded Northeast Jones girls defeated Northeast Lauderdale 50-34, and Wayne County beat Mendenhall, 54-49. Northeast Jones and Wayne County will play for the tournament championship at 7 p.m., while Mendenhall and Northeast Lauderdale play in the consolation game at 4 p.m.
Quitman (boys) 40
Wayne County 32
Most were looking for a high-scoring shootout between these two rivals but wasn't the case.
The score was tied at 10-all after the first quarter. Quitman limited Wayne County to four points in the second stanza while scoring eight and leading 18-14 at the break.
It appeared the War Eagles had taken control in the third quarter when they made a 10-point run. J.J. Taylor started it by stealing the ball and going in for a layup. Kamarrus West sank two field goals and Cedric Jones hit two free throws and field goal. Taylor stole another ball and went for the layup with 4:26 left in the third quarter and Wayne County led 26-20.
Both teams scored six points in the time remaining in the period and Wayne County held a 32-26 advantage going into the final quarter. But the War Eagles did not score again.
Quitman steadily put points on the board while Wayne County missed its shots. The Panthers put in 14 points during the eight-minute span and claimed the victory.
Prince Trotter led Quitman with 12 points while Jones led Wayne County.
With the victory, Quitman is assured of hosting a first-round game in next week's South State Tournament.
NE Jones (girls) 50
NE Lauderdale 34
The Northeast Jones girls took control of the game in the third quarter as they upped their record to 26-1 on the year.
Northeast Lauderdale held a 7-4 edge at the end of the first quarter and outscored the Lady Tigers 13-12 in the second stanza to lead 20-15 at the intermission.
With the score tied at 23-23 with less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers clicked in gear and tallied 10 unanswered points to go up 33-23 at the break. Kristin Blackledge sparked that run with two field goals.
The Lady Tigers tallied 17 points in the final quarter while holding the Lady Trojans to 11 digits.
Blackledge scored 18 points to lead the Lady Tigers while Kim Lewis added 11. Shaquita Bell scored 16 points to lead the Lady Trojans, who drop to 15-11 on the season.
Mendenhall (boys) 62
NE Lauderdale 59
Somebody forgot to tell the Northeast Lauderdale boys that they were playing the top seeded team in the tournament. The Trojans took it to the 26-4 Tigers from the get-go and stayed with them until the last seconds of the game.
They almost did it again.
The Trojans jumped out to an 11-2 lead with 4:23 left in the first quarter. Baskets by Maurice Langston and Alex Ford put Northeast up 15-4 with 2:48 left in the quarter. But then the Trojans had a couple of turnovers in a row and Reco Daniels scored a field goal and Kentrell Cleveland sank a three-point shot to bring Mendenhall back within six points, 15-9, at the break.
Mendenhall came back to tie the game at 21-all with 3:33 left in the second quarter. But Northeast pulled back ahead as they went up 28-23 on a goal by Harold Grace. That would be the last points the Trojans would score in the period by Mendenhall scored seven more before the buzzer. Tremaine Enoch sank a field goal with 20 seconds left to put the Tigers in front 30-28 at intermission.
The Trojans stayed tough, outscoring the Tigers 18-16 in the third quarter to tie the game at the break, 48-48.
It stayed close until Mendenhall's Darrell Johnson sank the winning three-point shot with 15 seconds left to put his team on top. Northeast Lauderdale's last shot hit the gym rafters and Mendenhall advanced to the champion game.
Darrel Johnson led Mendenhall with 17 points while Enoch added 14. Ford and Harold Grace each scored 18 points for the 14-14 Trojans while Maurice Langston added 16.
Wayne County (girls) 54
Mendenhall 49
The Wayne County girls earned a place in the tournament's championship game, but it wasn't easy.
Leading 13-11 at the end of the first quarter, Wayne County went up 22-13 with 5:56 left in the second quarter. But Mendenhall's Rededra Smith put in four field goals to tie the game at 22-22 with 2:56 left, and then hit on a three-point shot with 1:56 remaining that put her teams in front, 25-22. Those were Mendenhall's final points of the half, but Wayne County's Domaneshia Chambers sank a three-point shot to tie the game, and Ratassia Worsham hit a free throw to put the Lady War Eagles up by one at the break, 26-25.
Worsham led Wayne County with 22 points. Katy Bivens added 18 while Chambers scored 10. Rededra Smith scored 22 points to lead Mendenhall, while Angelica Burgess and Tiffany Lawson each added 11.