More with Gore

ICC will travel to Booneville tonight to take on rival Northeast with the women’s game at 6 p.m., and the men’s game at 8 p.m.

The Lady Indians (15-7, 7-2) are led in scoring by Pontotoc sophomore Lori Crudup, who had a game-high 22 Thursday night against East Mississippi, with a 14.5 ppg average.

The Indians (13-8, 5-4), who saw their three-year reign as north division champs snapped Thursday night with the loss to 14th ranked East Mississippi, are led in scoring and rebounding by Clinton sophomore Vincenzo Nelson (12.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg).

Radio coverage begins at 5:40 p.m. on FM95 (95.7) as well as the College’s Web site, www.iccms.edu and www.fm95radio.com.

Region 1-2A, Region 2-1A, Region 2-4A Tournament changes

Per Gene Phelps and John Wilbert of the NEMS Daily Journal and West Union’s Coach Andy Kirk.

Two division tournaments scheduled for today have been postponed until Tuesday because of winter weather travel concerns.

The Region 1-2A tournament at Mantachie moved today’s three-game schedule to Tuesday, starting at 4 p.m. with a girls game between Ashland and Baldwyn. Tuesday’s scheduled games were moved to Wednesday, allowing the tournament to remain on scheduled for its Friday consolation and championship games >>> click here to see the updated Region 1-2A schedule.

The Region 2-1A tournament at West Union moved its two scheduled games today to Tuesday and added them to another two-game schedule. The first game today, between Myrtle girls and Blue Mountain, is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start >>> click here to see the updated Region 2-1A schedule.

The Division 2-4A high school basketball tournament slated to begin today at Lewisburg High School in DeSoto County has been postponed to Tuesday – and could even be postponed for another day.

Lafayette High head boys basketball coach Teague Burchfield said the tournament could very well be played at two venues – the high school gymnasium and the middle school gymnasium – to allow for the postponed games to be made up and for the tournament to get back on track.

Burchfield and Lafayette High athletic director Jeff Nelson said it is likely that Tuesday’s weather conditions (possible icy conditions) may cause for the start of the tournament to be pushed to Wednesday >>> click here to see the Region 2-4A brackets.

ICC softball season opener pushed back thanks to Mother Nature

Via Will Kollmeyer ICC Director of Marketing & Sports Information

ICC’s softball season opener vs. Gulf Coast has been moved from tomorrow (Tuesday) to Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. due to the weather.

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Reggie Kelly, 100 percent and ready to get back to the game after surgery to repair a torn Achilles, gave the Monroe Journal his take on Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIV.

“It’s a game it’s your dream of playing when you’re a kid running around in the back yard with your friends,” Kelly said. “I’ve never been to the pinnacle, but I’ve talked to plenty of people who have and their preparation for this game is out of this world, because they want to do everything it takes to win that big game, because you never know if you’re going to get this opportunity again.”

Kelly has spent the last seven years of his 11-year career with the Bengals. An impending free agent, Kelly holds both Super Bowl quarterbacks in high regard.

“When you have a guy like Peyton Manning, you know he’s going to study tremendous amounts of film. He’s going to do all the little things it takes in practice to be totally prepared for anything the Saints defense is going to throw at him,” Kelly said. “All the bumps and bruises >>> click here to read more from Brandon Speck of the Monroe Journal.

The Class 4A Houston Lady Hilltoppers (20-4) and Class 1A Biggersville Lady Lions (17-5) make their first appearances in the NEMS Daily Journal basketball polls this season while the Class 4A New Albany Lady Bulldogs (25-0) stay steady atop the Large School polls >>> click here to see where your team ranks.

Itawamba Community College men’s and women’s soccer programs will hold open tryouts for the 2010 season on Sunday, February 21.  The men’s tryouts will begin at 2:00 and will be followed by the women’s tryout at 3:30.

The tryout will take place at the Itawamba CC soccer field.  All players need to arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of tryouts to fill out paperwork.  Players should bring shinguards, cleats, and tennis shoes.  In the event of bad weather tryouts will be held in the indoor practice facility in the ICC Fitness Center.

For further information, contact Mike Sullivan at 662.862.8124 or the athletic director’s office at 662.862.8123.

INGOMAR — It was a life-long dream for St. George’s senior Mary-Ashley Seabrook to play in the legendary Ingomar High School gymnasium and thanks to a special waiver by the Mississippi High School Activities Association she was able to fulfill that dream on Saturday in the 13th annual  Renasant Bank Relay for Life Challenge.

“It was such a great experience to be able to play where my great uncle (Coach Norris Ashley) has coached for so many years, where my cousins have played and to be able to be apart of the family legacy,” said Seabrook as she looked up at the eight state championship banners Ashley has won during his 40 years of coaching.

A lay-up by Seabrook gave St George’s (14-8) a 28-18 lead at the 6:28 mark of the fourth quarter, but Shelly Grisham connected on back-to-back lay-ups to spark a 9-1 run to pull Ingomar (11-17) within a 29-27 disadvantage with 2:18 to play.

Grisham knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game 31-31 to send the game into apparent overtime, but freshman Reed Little connected on one-of-two from the free throw line with one tick left on the clock to give the Lady Falcons a 32-31 victory.

“Shelly played good, had some big baskets, and show the rest of the girls what it took to win down the stretch with her defense,” said Ingomar Coach Richard Byrd.

Kayla Stevens led all scorers with 14 while Grisham added 10 for Ingomar.

Kellie Kosar paced the Gryphons with 11 points.

Also on Saturday.

In the first game of the day North Pontotoc (16-10) picked up a 54-42 win over East Union (12-12).

Andrea Lewis led the Lady Vikings with 16 while Chelsea Mabry added 10 points. Amy McCollugh scored 9 for East Union.

West Union (20-9) cruised to a 66-47 win over Alcorn Central (5-21) in the second game of the three-day event.

Robyn Taylor and Claire Wilkerson led all scorers with 16 points apiece and Carely Wilkerson added 11 for the Lady Eagles. Six players scored five or more points for the Lady Golden Bears.

HOULKA — Adrian Potter scored 21 points as Pontotoc held on to beat Houlka 69-63 on Friday night.

Leading 53-44 with 5:34 left in the fourth quarter, the Warriors (16-12, 7-3 Region 1-4A) saw the Wildcats (8-17, 2-4 Region 4-1A) storm back to make it 64-61 on a Kevin Moore lay-up with 46.6 seconds left in the game.

That’s when Pontotoc senior Josh Green took over the contest.

Green connected on one-of-two free throws before picking off a Houlka pass and converted a transition basket to give the Warriors a 67-61 lead with 33.1 ticks left on the clock. Houlka got an offensive putback to pull within four points, but Green stole another pass and connected on a pair of free throws with 2.1 seconds left to give Pontotoc the 69-63 victory.

Moore scored 19 points for the Wildcats, Dante Turner and Corey Pulliam added 13 each, and Brandon Isabell had 10 points.

Green finished with 17 points for the Warriors.

Pontotoc 56 Houlka 38 (G)

The Lady Warriors (21-3, 7-2 Region 1-4A) saw a 34-16 halftime lead quickly evaporate in the third quarter as the Lady Wildcats (10-14, 4-1 Region 4-1A) battled back to make it a 39-30 ballgame in favor of Pontotoc on a lay up at the buzzer by Ranesha Townsend.

A spirited speech from Coach Bill Russell got the Lady Warriors in gear as they quickly retook control of the game and outscored Houlka 17-8 in the final frame to pick up the 56-38 win.

Ebony Brinker scored a game-high 20 points, Anna Rosenbaum added 16, and Rhandi Ball had 10 points for Pontotoc.

Candiace McIntosh scored 13 and Townsend finished with 10 points for Houlka.

submitted by Brandon Shields/Clarion Ledger

BRANDON — First it was Mychal Ammons. Second time it was Kelsey Howard.

Howard nailed a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in regulation, and the Vicksburg Gators (23-2) outscored the Brandon Bulldogs (22-6) 11-7 in overtime to prevail 77-73 before an estimated 1,500 at the “Dawg Pound” on the campus of Brandon High School.

“We knew coming in it would be a dog fight,” Vicksburg coach Delhi Robinson said, “I knew going into overtime Kelsey would step up and we would fine.”

Howard finished the night with 25 points.

The first time these 2 teams was at Northwest Rankin Holiday Invitation championship game over the Christmas holidays and the Gators stole one from the Bulldogs on a controversy tip-in at the buzzard on a ally-oop to give Vicksburg the 64-62 win after trailing by as much as 19.

The largest lead of the game tonight was eight.

The second time was what the fans paid their $5 for yet again, with these two teams that could make it to the coliseum later on this month.

“We would like to see them in the coliseum,” Robinson said.

What this game did for both teams was prepare them for the “new season.”

Both teams will enter division tournaments next week. Brandon will be the number one seed in Region 5-6A and will play Hattiesburg, whose hosting the division tournament, on Tuesday at 8:30. Vicksburg is also the number one seed in Region 4-6A and will play rival Warren Central on Tuesday at 5:30 at host Greenville-Weston.

“This now starts a new season with district tournament and the playoffs,” Robinson said, “I would like to play Brandon in the coliseum.”

Ammons, the 6-7 junior standout for the Gators, had a game high 34 points before fouling out with 56 seconds left in regulation.

For the Brandon, they had times to put the game away at free throw line out didn’t succeed.

“You always have to be able to make free throws down the stretch,” Brandon coach Fredrick Barnes said, “With a team like Vicksburg who is physically strong at every position you have to take advantages of easy points and we didn’t do that tonight.”

The Bulldogs were led by senior guard D.J. Evans who had 27 points, dandy dozen 6-9 junior Tyler Adams added 15 points.

SMITHVILLE – No matter what happens the rest of the way, the Smithville Seminoles have already had one of Class 1A’s best seasons.

Of course the Noles don’t want the season to end anytime soon, but with 16 wins already on the schedule coming into the week, this team has already made a name for itself.

“We always tell them to take one game at a time. You can’t slip up,” said Smithville coach Greg Haynes, his first year on Smithville’s bench after a long tenure and short break from Vardaman. “When we were playing back in the summer >>> click here to read more from Brandon Speck of the Monroe Journal.

Itawamba Community College will open its 2010 baseball campaign tomorrow against Southwest Tennessee as the nation’s ninth-ranked squad.  The defending state champion Indians have finished among the country’s top five in the last two final polls of the year by the NJCAA.

“I guess the bulls-eye got even bigger on our backs now with the pre-season top 10 ranking,” said ICC head coach Rick Collier, who has won the north division title in six of his first seven years at the helm of the program.  “But at the same time, this ranking shows how hard we work at ICC and the respect our program generates to be listed among the nation’s best.”

Collier added he will start Auburn signee Will Irvin of Bolivar, Tenn. and Tupelo’s Joseph Koon, a Southeastern Louisiana signee, on the hill tomorrow against the visitors from Memphis.  The doubleheader’s first pitch is scheduled for noon at Crubaugh Field.

ICC is the only Mississippi community college ranked in the NJCAA’s pre-season poll.