Lady Wolves fall to Lady Eagles in home matchup

WESSON, Miss. - The Copiah-Lincoln Community College Lady Wolves could not overcome three strong quarters from the Lady Eagles of Meridian Community College on Thursday as Meridian won, 73-65. The loss drops the Lady Wolves to 9-6, 3-3 on the year and improves the Lady Eagles to 6-9, 3-3. Co-Lin continues MACJC South Division play next week with two road trips. First, to Jones College on Monday, January 27 to face the Lady Bobcats at 5:30 in Ellisville, then to Poplarville to take on the Lady Wildcats of Pearl River. Fans can watch the games live at www.colinathletics.com/watch or listen live at www.colinathletics.com/listen and WMJU 104.3 FM in Brookhaven. 

"We have a chance to win at home, and we did a lot of things wrong," said Co-Lin head coach Gwyn Young. "We shot just 29% percent, and you can not win in this league with shooting like. Jones is going to be really good, so we need to come out and have some urgency." 

Meridian took a small four-point lead in the first couple of minutes of action, but a Co-Lin quickly recovered with a basket from Dashell Davis followed by a pair of three-pointers form Sha'Quandra Carter and Orlandrea McGee to put the Lady Wolves on top 11-4 late in the first quarter. Both squads traded baskets late in the quarter, but a couple of long balls from the Lady Eagles cut into Co-Lin's lead. Going into the second, the Lady Wolves led by three, 16-13. 

Co-Lin grew the lead to six, 27-21, midway through the second quarter, but a scoring drought opened the door to Meridian. The Lady Eagles rattled off a 9-0 run with less than three minutes to play in the half to take their first lead since the opening minutes of the contest, 30-27. In the final minute of the half, the Lady Wolves scored back-to-back baskets to take a one-point, 33-32, lead into the locker room. 

The third quarter was very tight as Meridian outscored Co-Lin 17-16. Meridian led by as much as five, 48-43, with less than one to play in the quarter, but once again the Lady Wolves scored baskets late. The two late shots from carter and Morgan McCray tied the game at 49-49 going into the fourth quarter. 

The Lady Eagles pulled away in the fourth with a 13-2 run that lasted nearly six minutes. A three-pointer from Chardonay Williams finally ended the scoring spree, but Meridian led 66-57 with just 2:27 remaining. Cianna Jones hit a pair of threes for the Lady Wolves in the final minutes, but it was not enough to overcome the Lady Eagles. 

Sha'Quandra Carter led the Lady Wolves in scoring with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while Orlandrea McGee netted 15 after hitting 3-of-7 three-pointers. Orieon James came off the bench and led the team with 11 rebounds, while Chardonay Williams dished a team-best nine assists. Berniya Hard led Meridian with 14 points, while LaChrisha Williams and Sidney Sims both scored 13. Hard also led the Lady Eagles with eight rebounds. 

The Lady Wolves shot 29 percent (20-of-69) from the floor, 43 percent (9-of-21) from three-point range, and 76 percent (16-of-21) from the free-throw line. The Lady Eagles shot 43 percent (23-of-53) from the floor, 38 percent (8-of-21) from downtown, and 56 percent (19-of-34) from the stripe. Co-Lin outrebounded the Lady Eagles 49 to 38.