NORTHEAST READIES TO FACE NINTH-RANKED COPIAH-LINCOLN IN STATE TOURNAMENT

BOONEVILLE, Miss.--  Northeast Mississippi Community College Head Women’s Basketball Coach Ricky Ford has led his Lady Tigers back in familiar territory.

Ford guided Northeast to a berth in the Mississippi Association of Community/Junior Colleges (MACJC) State Tournament at Jones County Junior College on Feb. 23-26 after finishing fourth in the MACJC’s North Division.

For the Lady Tigers efforts, Northeast received a match up with the South’s top seed Copiah-Lincoln Community College on Monday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m.

The Lady Wolves posted a 22-2 record during the 2008-09 season en route to capturing the South Division with a 11-1 mark. Co-Lin’s only losses on the year came to Jones County Junior College on Feb. 5 by a score of 59-55 and to North Division foe Mississippi Delta 67-57 on Dec. 2, 2008, a team that did not make the MACJC state tournament.

Co-Lin and Northeast have history during the 2008-09 season.

Northeast is the only team to take Copiah-Lincoln into overtime during the season falling 81-80 on Dec. 13, 2008, the Lady Tigers final game before the holiday break.

In that game, Northeast freshman forward Charnise Mitchell (Florence, Ala.) led the Lady Tigers with 22 points and 15 rebounds in taking the Lady Wolves to the extra session.

During the Dec. 13 contest, Northeast was able to limit Co-Lin’s leading scorers Racheal Vigers  and Shareka Hunt to a combined 16 points on the afternoon. Vigers will enter the MACJC State Tournament with a 14-point per game average while Hunt checks in with just over 10 points per game.

Latoria Holder, who went for 19 in the first meeting, averages an even dozen a game for the Lady Wolves.

In the second match up of the year, it was a different story as Co-Lin blasted Northeast 83-38 in Wesson for the Lady Tigers first contest after the holiday break.

Northeast could not find an offense coming off the break with freshman reserve forward Kailie Montgomery leading the way for the Lady Tigers with eight points in the loss.

Copiah-Lincoln limited Northeast’s five starters in the second match-up to just 17 points combined with two starters failing to hit a basket on the day in addition to Northeast failing to knock down a three-pointer on 15 attempts.

Northeast takes a 10-13 record into Monday night’s contest after falling 76-61 on the final night of the regular season to East Mississippi Community College.

Northeast clinched its berth in the 2009 MACJC State Tournament after sewing up the North’s fourth-seed with an 88-74 win over Coahoma Community College on Feb. 10 at Bonner Arnold Coliseum. In that game, Northeast out-rebounded the visiting Lady Tigers 76-30 with three Northeast players scoring double-doubles in the contest.

A pair of McNairy Central, Tenn., products will lead the Lady Tigers against the Lady Wolves in the MACJC State Tournament.

Sophomores Eboni Crayton and Erika Wright will try to knock off the Lady Wolves. Crayton comes into Monday night’s contest averaging over 16 points a game while Wright recorded double-digit rebound games in eight of the final nine regular season games for the Lady Tigers. 

Northeast will be without two key cogs that helped the Lady Tigers take the Lady Wolves to a period of  “free basketball” on Dec. 13. Suzanne Ford is out for the remainder of the year with a knee injury and freshman guard Bionca Hill, who scored 15 points in the contest, is no longer a part of the team.

Neutral sites have been kind to the Lady Tigers with Northeast carrying a perfect record through the 2008-09 season when facing opponents at a neutral site.

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