East Central falls to Itawamba CC

By By Marty Stamper / staff writer
November 12, 2004
DECATUR The Lady Indians of Itawamba Community College built a 33-22 halftime lead and held on to knock off defending Region 23 champion East Central Community College 58-57 Thursday night at the Brackeen-Wood Physical Education Building.
ECCC, which was ranked sixth in the NJCAA women's preseason poll, trailed 52-45 with 8:25 remaining before putting together an 8-0 run to go up 53-52 on a pair of free throws by Sara Judice with 4:21 remaining.
After a driving basket by ICC's LaTanya Williams, India Backstrom gave the Lady Warriors their last lead at 55-54 with a basket with 3:42 to go.
Kim Stanfield scored in the lane for ICC with 2:23 left for a 56-55 Lady Indian lead.
ECCC's Kristin Chaney tied the game at 56-56 with a free throw with 1:13 left, but ICC got a driving basket by Williams for a 58-56 advantage with 45 seconds showing.
Chaney missed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left, but ECCC got possession on a jump ball. Tierra Young misfired with 20 seconds left, but came up with a steal to set up the Lady Warriors' final chance at a win or overtime.
Kim Cox was fouled just inside midcourt on a scramble for a loose ball with 2.9 seconds remaining. She made the first free throw, but missed the second.
ECCC (2-1) got 13 points from Judice, 11 from Chaney, eight from Young, seven from Shannon Lloyd, and six from Backstrom.
ICC (4-0) got 16 points from Jazmyn Vernor, 12 from Williams, 10 from Stanfield, and eight from Blanchard.
ICC (men) 97
ECCC 76
The Indians outscored the Warriors 34-13 over the final 9:52 to take the win and snap ICC head coach Marty Cooper's 0-6 record against his former school in games played at Decatur.
ECCC led 27-19 with 10 minutes to go in the first half, but the teams had four ties, including a 43-43 stalemate at intermission, over the final 10 minutes of the half.
After ECCC went up 61-56 on a basket by Coshune Bingham with 12:20 to play, the Indians pulled even at 63-63, then pulled away to improve to 4-0.
ECCC (0-3) got 15 points from Ryan Hudson, 14 from Ryan Rodgers, 12 from Tawon Walker, and eight from Garrick Nichols.