Morgan Gates
Published: November 23, 2005
The Lady Pirates hosted the World Ford Classic tournament Nov. 18-19 where they competed against the defending national champs of the NJCAA division II, the South Monroe Community College Tribunes, and South Georgia Technical College Jets. In Friday night’s game the Lady Pirates went to halftime on a 10-point lead at 44-34 against South Monroe. They held on to the lead against the Tribunes until the end of the last half. With only 3:15 left they lost the lead at 62-64. The Lady Pirates came within 2 points of tying their opponent with Dana Parker’s free throw shots with less than 1 minute remaining in the game. The final score 76-70 South Monroe.
“This by far has been the best team we’ve played,” women’s Head Basketball Coach Chanda Rigby said. “We allowed dribble penetration and got out-rebounded, but other than that the team fought hard and didn’t give up. Coach Goodnight and I thought this was a good learning experience for the girls, and we thought they did a lot of good things tonight.”
Parker was top scorer with 22 points, followed by Ida Edwards who made a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. April Snow had 7 rebounds as well. As a whole, the team made 48 percent of its 2-point shots, 37 percent from the 3-point line, and 67 percent of the free throws (12 of 18). The Lady Pirates finished up the tournament with a 91-55 win over the South Georgia Jets on Saturday.
The Lady Pirates were unstoppable at the Nova Care Rehabilitation Center Classic Nov. 11-12.
Nov. 11, the Lady Pirates played Faulkner State Community College and won 72-60. PJC added another win to their record Nov. 12 against Rend Lake Community College.
“I was definitely happy with the results of the tournament,” Rigby said of the home opener. “It really took a lot of team effort and getting those first wins at home is always a great way to start the season.”
Special recognition goes to one of PJC’s starting guards, Dana Parker, for being the leading scorer in both games of the tournament. Parker was also named player of the week by Coach Rigby.