Cold shooting hampers Sebastopol in 55-41 loss

By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
March 5, 2004
JACKSON It was warm and muggy outside the Mississippi Coliseum Thursday afternoon, but the Lady Bobcats of Sebastopol were cold inside the building, at least for a half.
The Lady Bobcats scored eight points in the first quarter and managed only seven in the second as they found themselves looking at a 28-15 halftime deficit against East Oktibbeha.
The Lady Titans made the early lead stand up as they took a 55-41 win in the Class 1A state tournament quarterfinals.
Sebastopol finished 28-5 with one loss each to Scott Central, Nanih Waiya, South Leake, McAdams and now East Oktibbeha.
"I knew all year that our biggest problem was scoring from the outside," Sebastopol coach Truman Moore said. "They backed up in a 2-3 zone and we just didn't get the good shots.
They were big enough and physical enough inside that we couldn't get it in because we quit playing high school basketball and started playing college and pro with all the pushing and shoving.
"We couldn't get it in there and we took some bad shots and got behind. I thought we played pretty well in the second half, but we had gotten too far down."
East Oktibbeha scored the first five points of the second half to go up 33-15 for the Lady Titans' biggest lead of the afternoon.
Sebastopol began chipping away with a close-range basket from Brittany Gordon, a three-pointer from Tamika Triplett, and 3-of-4 free throw shooting from Triplett pulling the Lady Bobcats to within 37-23 with 2:40 left in the third quarter.
Ashley Johnson, Dana Boykin and Triplett each scored a basket as the Lady Bobcats closed the period with a 6-0 run to cut their deficit to 38-29 with eight minutes remaining.
Back-to-back baskets by Debbie Hughes and Johnson left Sebastopol down 42-35 with 6:12 still to be played.
The Lady Bobcats had a chance to get even closer, but missed a short jumper. East Oktibbeha's April Sykes promptly scored consecutive driving layups to extend the Lady Titans' lead to 46-35.
The closest the Lady Bobcats got after that was eight points on two occasions, the last coming with just under three minutes left.
East Oktibbeha scored the final six points to improve to 29-6 heading into a March 10 semifinal date with West Lowndes.
Johnson led Sebastopol with 14 points. Triplett had 13, 12 of which came in the second half. Ashley Bell had six and Gordon had four.
"We had a good year," Moore said. "The kids did a good job the whole year. Actually, we ought to have been about 31-2. We shouldn't have lost but two games."
Moore loses only two seniors, Gordon and Ally Easom.
Imesia Jackson had 22 points and Sykes had 18 to lead the Lady Titans.