Lady Warriors grab state title
By By Tony Krausz/assistant sports editor
March 13, 2004
JACKSON Choctaw Central forward Ashley Flint became a one-woman wrecking crew in the second half of the Girls Class 3A State Basketball Championship game.
The 5-foot-8 senior scored 22 points in the third and fourth quarters to propel the Lady Warriors (33-2) to a 72-52 win over defending 3A champion Ripley (34-2) on Friday afternoon in the Mississippi Coliseum.
Flint, who scored just four points in the opening half, played through the pain of a strained muscle in her right arm to finish with a game-high 26 points.
Choctaw hit 31-of-69 field goals in the game, and it connected on 8-of-20 three-pointers.
The Lady Warriors' strong offensive performance came from a simple plan by third-year girls coach Walter Wilson.
While the Lady Warriors knocked down shots on the offensive end of the floor, they performed equally efficient on the defensive end of the court.
Ripley was held to 18-of-53 shooting, as the Lady Tigers leading scorer, Miayorka Johnson, was hampered by a broken bone in her shooting hand.
Johnson broke the bone in her hand in the semifinal contest against Southeast Lauderdale on Monday. She scored seven points in Ripley's 75-71 win over Southeast.
Flint capped a 10-5 Lady Warriors' run to open the third quarter hitting three-pointer with 2:52 left. The senior went a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor in the first five minutes of the third to account for eight of Choctaw's first 10 points.
After scoring 10 points in the third, Flint topped off her total in the fourth with 12 points.
The Lady Warriors took a 47-36 lead into the final quarter, and they pushed their advantage to 70-47 with a minute left to play, before subbing out the starting lineup.
Choctaw junior guard Chantay Frazier tallied 23 points and hit 4-of-7 three-point shots, and Mystee Dale scored 12.
Ripley, which knocked Choctaw out of the playoffs last season, kept the score close after the opening half.
The Lady Tigers scored the final eight points of the first half to reduce the Lady Warriors' halftime lead to 30-27, after being down by as much as seven points in the second quarter.
Johnson scored six of Ripley's points in the rally at the end of the second quarter. The senior ended the game with 18 points.
The championship was the first Class 3A title Choctaw has ever won. The Lady Warriors captured three 2A title in 1996, 1997 and 1999, under former coach Willis Tullus.
