February 22, 2021
Wynter Taylor fights for two of her 11 points in the win over Gulf Coast. (EC Photo)​
The Lady Warriors of ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ picked up their first win of 2021 on Friday with a 60-50 victory over the Mississippi Gulf Coast Lady Bulldogs. The win moves the Lady Warriors to 1-2 on the year as postponements from COVID and weather have drastically altered the schedule.
Gulf Coast took an early 6-0 lead in the contests as turnovers plagued both squads in the opening minutes. The Lady Warriors were quick to right the ship and knotted the game at six-all midway through the first quarter. Scoring was shared by a variety of Lady Warriors as solid ball-movement gave numerous players opportunities. (Tupelo), (Terry), (Brighton, Tenn.), (Mobile, Ala.), and (Dallas, Texas) all poured in key buckets early. At the end of one quarter, ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ led 14-12.
The second quarter was back-and-forth as the Lady Warriors hung on to a single-digit lead. Going into the half, ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ led by two, 26-24.
In the third, the Lady Bulldogs picked up some momentum and built an eight-point, 42-34, lead. ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ's Jones capitalized on a couple of trips to the free throw stripe in the final minutes of the quarter and helped cut the lead to just one, 42-41, going into the final 10 minutes.
The Lady Warriors pulled away midway through the final quarter with an 11-2 run over the final four minutes led by Kohlheim, (Hazlehurst), and more. The late offensive push grew the lead to 10 and sealed the 60-50 win.
Taylor came off the bench and joined Jones on leading the Lady Warriors in the scoring column with 11 each. Madison also added 10 to round-out double-digit scorers. Taylor and (Madison) led the way on the boards with five rebounds each. East Central finished the day shooting 42 percent from the floor and a strong 84 percent from the free throw line.
The Lady Warriors' Monday night game versus Pearl River has been postponed due to COVID concerns on the Lady Wildcats team. ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ is slated to be back on the court on Thursday, Feb. 25 as the team travels to Summit to face the Southwest Lady Bears.
