West one win away from 5-3A crown
By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Jan. 29, 2003
COLLINSVILLE For West Lauderdale's Lady Knights, the magic number to clinch the Division 5-3A regular season title is down to one following Tuesday's 55-46 win over Choctaw Central.
The teams, both ranked in the top 15 in the state, swapped point-for-point over most of the first three quarters. Choctaw led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter only to have the Lady Knights pull even at 30-30 by halftime. The Lady Warriors were up 28-24 and went to their delay game with just over three minutes left in the half. However, West scored six of the last eight points of the half to pull even.
West led 37-36 through three periods.
Shannon Lloyd's basket from close range put the Lady Knights up 39-36 and two free throws by Cierra Jennings upped the lead to 41-36 with 6:02 remaining.
The Lady Warriors were mired in a scoring drought until Chantay Frazier hit a 3-pointer with 4:20 left to pull Choctaw back to within 42-39.
The Lady Warriors got to within 43-41 on a basket by Frazier, but West reeled off six straight points, all from the foul line, to build a 49-41 lead.
The Lady Warriors got to within 50-46 on a pair of free throws by Natisha Isaac with 49 seconds showing, but West made five of its last eight free throws to remain unbeaten in 5-3A.
For the final period, the Lady Knights were 16-of-24 at the free-throw line.
Kristina Gardner led West (23-2, 9-0) with 14 points. J.J. Huggins had 13, Lloyd 12, Patty Monroe nine, and Jennings seven.
Choctaw (21-4, 7-3) got 17 points from Frazier, 10 from Trish Phillips, and nine from Ashley Flint.
West boys 66
Choctaw Central 58
The Knights spotted the Warriors the game's first 15 points before storming back to take the win.
The Warriors led 19-9 after one quarter only to have West use a 15-0 run in the second quarter to take a 31-30 lead into halftime. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Boo Ramsey gave the Knights their first lead of the game at 28-27 with 1:39 to go before halftime.
West eased out to a 37-33 lead early in the third quarter before the Warriors went on an 11-0 run to go up 44-37 with 3:57 remaining in the period.
A 7-0 run by the Knights gave them a 44-44 tie and a three-point play by Calvin Moore sent West into the final period with a slim 50-48 lead.
West upped its lead to 60-51 with 2:33 left only to have the Warriors battle back to within 61-58 on a 3-pointer by Deon Lewis with 43 seconds remaining.
Karlos Lewis scored on a run out on an inbounds play for West and the Warriors were unable to score again.
West (21-3, 8-1) got 23 points from Moore, 15 from Ramsey, 11 from Karlos Lewis, and 10 from Chris Seaphus.
Choctaw (18-6, 7-3) got 20 points from Shaun Dougherty, 15 from Roderick Anderson, nine from Deon Lewis, and eight from Clifton Willis.
