Lady Wolves Squeak Past Lady Bobcats

WESSON – The Co-Lin Women's Basketball team resumed MACCC play hosting Jones on Thursday, February 8. The Lady Wolves used a lot of grit and determination in a hard-fought, 77-69, victory over the Lady Bobcats, for the Lady Wolves first win against Jones since March of 2020.

"This win was a total team effort," stated Co-Lin head coach Dr. Britta Stephens. "We had three players in double figures. I thought we played very unselfishly tonight, and we had a season low in turnovers!"

Both teams struggled to find points in the early moments of the first quarter until A'shante Fleming (Canton) swished a three pointer to score the first points of the game at the 7:43 mark. The Lady Wolves and Lady Bobcats then traded baskets and leads for the next few minutes ultimately resulting in the Lady Wolves hold a 12-9 lead with 3:44 left in the quarter. The Lady Wolves then closed out the quarter with a 4-2 scoring run to hold a 16-11 lead at the end of play.

The Lady Bobcats opened the second quarter with an 8-4 scoring to cut the Lady Wolves lead down to 22-19 with seven minutes remaining. However, the Lady Wolves responded with a 10-9 scoring run to make their lead 32-28 with just over one minute left in the first half. The Lady Wolves then closed out the half with a 4-3 run to hold a 36-31 lead as the teams entered the locker rooms at halftime.

The Lady Wolves opened the third quarter with an 8-5 scoring run to increase their lead to 44-36 with 7:23 left to play. The Lady Bobcats then used a quick 7-0 scoring run to cut the lead down to 44-43 with just over five minutes remaining in the quarter. However, the Lady Wolves responded by closing out the quarter on an 11-4 scoring run to grow their lead to 55-47.

Both teams matched scoring outputs with 22 points each in the fourth quarter while the Lady Bobcats cut the lead down to five points with 3:37 left to play; however, the Lady Wolves shortly pushed the lead back to double digits ultimately securing the 77-69 victory.

A'shante Fleming led all scorers with 17 points along with three rebounds and three assists while Jamea Smith (Jackson) posted a double-double performance with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Ceara Myers narrowly missed a double-double with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Angel Wilkinson (Brookhaven) had nine points, Kayla Howard (Shaw) had eight points, and Sequoia Bouldin (Hattiesburg) had seven points. Lashaunte Payne (Magee) and Myla Harbor (Farriday, LA) had six points each while Kiersten Haynes (Clinton) had three points to round out the scoring for the Lady Wolves.

"A'shante Fleming was stellar for the second game in a row," added Stephens. "As a team, we were much better at rebounding in this game. We also did a fantastic job defensively holding off their 6'2" kid off the glass, and offensively we were able to get a lot of second chance buckets."

Co-Lin improves to 10-8 overall, 2-4 in conference play, and will return to play on the road against Mississippi Delta on Monday, February 12. Tip-off between the Lady Wolves and the Lady Trojans is set 5:30 p.m., at J.T. Hall Coliseum in Moorhead.