POPLARVILLE – The Co-Lin Lady Wolves overcame poor first half shooting to take a 64-46 Thursday night win over the Northeast Mississippi Lady Tigers in the championship game of the MACJC State Basketball Tournament. The win, in Pearl River’s Shivers Gymnasium, gives the Lady Wolves their second state championship in the last three years and Co-Lin Head Coach Gwyn Young’s seventh state title in his illustrious 37- year coaching career.

“Offensively, the first half was really ugly,” said Young. “I thought we played well enough defensively and were fortunate to be up by eight at the half.

“I knew that if we could score, that our press could cause some turnovers. Toward the end (of the game) we had a little offensive momentum and our defense was able to take advantage. That was the difference.”

Northeast (14-11), No. 3 seed from the North, took an early 6-0 lead. The Lady Wolves, the South No. 1 seed, would finally get on the scoreboard at the 15:54 mark when Vintrice Briggs hit a pair of free throws.

Freshman T’Keya Moore hit a pair of free throws to give the Lady Wolves their first lead at 11-10.

Northeast outshot Co-Lin from the floor 27 percent (6-of-22) to 22 percent (7-of-32) in the first half, but the Lady Wolves held a 28-20 halftime lead.

“I have seen and coached in a lot of state tournament championship games but that first half has to be about the ugliest I’ve ever seen,” said Young, as he rehashed the victory. “Thankfully, we played good defense and caused a lot of turnovers.”

At the start of the second half, Co-Lin saw their 8-point halftime lead evaporate as the Lady Tigers went on a 7-1 run to close the gap to 29-27 with 13:41 left to play. The Lady Wolves found their rhythm and went on an 11-4 run to increase their lead to 40-31 at the 9:44 mark.

With 5:26 remaining, Latonya Gadison’s old-fashioned 3-point play capped a 12-6 Northeast run to pull the Lady Tigers within 46-43. But back-to-back baskets by Briggs and a basket and a pair of free throws by Moore pushed the Co-Lin lead to 55-45 with 3:04 left in the game. Co-Lin’s pressure defense caused Northeast turnovers and the Lady Wolves went on a 9-1 run in the last 3 minutes of the game.

The game was a lot closer than the score indicated. Co-Lin shot 42 percent (10-of-24) from the field in the second half and finished the game 17-of-56 (30 percent). Northeast was 6-of-28 from the field in the second half and finished 12-of-50 (24 percent).

The Lady Tigers outrebounded Co-Lin 49-39. The Lady Wolves’ defense caused Northeast to commit 24 turnovers.

Co-Lin held the advantage at the free throw line, hitting 28-of-40 (70 percent), compared to the Lady Tigers 19-of-31 (61 percent). Co-Lin’s bench play, which has been a key to their success all season, came up big again as they outscored Northeast 33-10

Moore, a 5-8 freshman from Minden, La., came off the bench to lead the Lady Wolves with a game-high 20 points.

“We all work together and we have good chemistry,” said Moore. “My teammates motivated me tonight.”

Briggs, still bothered by an ankle injury, played through some pain and chipped in 13 points.

“It feels good to win this championship,” said Briggs, a 5-8 sophomore from Roxie. “We worked hard all year long to get here. The next step is to win the regional.”

Co-Lin freshman guard Ashley Minor came off the bench and scored 8 points, made 7 steals and dished out 4 assists. Jessica Wilson led off the backboards with 8 rebounds. Tiffany Sims and Jessica Jackson pulled down 6 rebounds apiece.

For Northeast, Gadison was the only player in double figures with 14 points. Antoinette Riddle, Angelia Allen, and Talisa Boyd had 7 rebounds apiece.

The Lady Wolves (23-3) will play in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament next week on the campus of Mississippi College in Clinton. The winner will earn a trip to the NJCAA National Championship in Salina, Kan., the week of March 18-23.

PRCC Men Romp

South No. 1 seed Pearl River roared to an 81-60 victory over Mississippi Delta in the men’s championship game. Fifteen points each by DeAngelo Coleman and Xavier Rimmer led 5 Wildcats in double figures.