CLINTON – The Co-Lin Lady Wolves had beaten the Pearl River LadyWildcats in all three previous encounters during this basketballseason. In the semifinals of the Region 23 Tournament Wednesdaynight, their fourth meeting did not favor the Co-Lin women who fellto Pearl River 81-70 in A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus ofMississippi College.

In yesterday’s other women’s semifinals game, the Southwest LadyBears dumped the Itawamba Lady Indians 68-59.

In the men’s bracket, Holmes nipped Pearl River 72-71 andNorthwest crushed Southern-Shreveport 79-65.

Tonight’s championship games features the Pearl River womenagainst Southwest at 6 p.m. and the Holmes men meeting Northwest at8.

The Lady Wolves, ranked No. 3 nationally, finished the seasonwith a 29-1 record. Co-Lin defeated Pearl River 69-54 a week ago inthe semifinals of the MACJC State Tournament.

“Pearl River has a good team,” said Co-Lin women’s headbasketball coach Gwyn Young following the loss. “We didn’t play upto our potential. We had no inside game. We played hard. It didn’tseem much was going our way.”

Pearl River (22-7) burned Co-Lin from three-point range in thefirst half. The Lady Wildcats banged in eight treys compared toonly two for the Lady Wolves.

Co-Lin led Pearl River 12-6 at the 13:36 mark when Pearl Riverbegan netting three pointers. The game was tied at 22-all with 7:35left. Then Pearl River’s Kira Tillman nailed her secondthree-pointer for a 25-22 lead.

The Lady Wolves got a break at the 2:10 mark when Pearl Riverhead coach Ed Walley was assessed a technical foul. Co-Linsophomore guard Tiania Burns netted both freebies and cut thedeficit to 30-29. The Lady Wildcats came back with a 9-4 run totake a 39-33 lead at halftime.

Co-Lin battled back to take the lead twice midway in the secondhalf. Forward Lauren Williams scored two points to give the LadyWolves their final lead, 56-55, with 9:21 remaining. Burns tied thegame for Co-Lin for the last time at 59-all on a trey with 5:10left on the clock. Pearl River guard Audosha Kelly came back with athree-point play and the Lady Wildcats went up 62-59 and neverrelinquished their lead again.

“We had a good year,” added Young. “We’ve done well. It’s hardto win 29 games. I’m proud of them.”

Burns was the top scorer for the Lady Wolves with game-high 35points, scoring 18 points in the first half and going 6 of 8 fromthe charity line. Sophomores Shaquita Smith and Ayme Beesonfinished with 11 points apiece.

For Pearl River, Kelly led the way with 32 points, netting10-of-12 from the free-throw line in the second half. She had 14points at halftime. Adding support with 12 points was MoniqueDale.

Southwest 68, Itawamba 59

Coach Mark Swindle’s Southwest women got 24 points from TaraAbdul-Hadi. Mikela Martin fired in 19 points.

The Itawamba women were led by Ava Smith with 13 points. NatalieReeder finished with 12 points. Netting 11 points was SheraEdwards.

Holmes 72, Pearl River 71

Jermaine Willis powered the Holmes men with 19 points. SandrellSpann finished with 14 points.

Pearl River was led by Yandell Brown and Keesler Johnson with 22points each. Scoring 12 points was Jeremy Bragg.

Northwest 79, Southern 65

The Northwest Rangers got 21 points from Antonio Shaw. PrestonDennis finished with 12 points.

Leading Southern-Shreveport with 20 points was Steven Murdock.Melvin Harris pumped in 14 points.