FULTON – The Co-Lin Lady Wolves rallied from a 10-point deficit to defeat the North No. 2 seed Northwest Lady Rangers 75-68 Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the MACJC State Tournament hosted by Itawamba Community College in Fulton.

The Lady Wolves (21-3), the South No. 3 seed, advances to the semifinal round will play the South No. 1 seed East Central Lady Warriors (22-2) on today at 1 p.m. The Lady Warriors defeated the East Mississippi Lady Lions 72-68. Watch the action live at www.letsgoICC.com. Listen live at www.colinathletics.com or WMJU 104.3 FM in Brookhaven.

Co-Lin’s starting five netted 64 of the Lady Wolves 75 points. The impressive shooting started early as the Lady Wolves went on a 7-0 run in the first two minuets of play. The Lady Rangers clawed back in the first quarter tying the game twice, and closed out the quarter only trailing 21-15.

In the second quarter, the Lady Wolves offense stalled as Northwest outscored the Lady Wolves 22-13, and took the lead 37-34 going into the half.

The Lady Rangers to build on their lead in the third quarter, stretching to as many as 10 points. Co-Lin battled back in the final three minutes of the quarter with clutch shots by both Kelley Allen and Alexis Collins.

The fourth quarter was dominated by the Lady Wolves defense. The Lady Rangers were held to only 10 points in the final 10 minutes of play. Late free throws by Jamilah Sanders helped finish the game for the Lady Wolves.

Allen led the Lady Wolves with 18 points and seven rebounds. Sanders and Collins, netted 15 apiece. Collins posted a double-double as she also dished out 11 assists. Sanders grabbed eight rebounds. Tytiana Hall chipped in 10 points. Debraia Bell came off the bench to lead on the backboards grabbing 10 rebounds.

“We did a good job of defending the three-point shot and our guards did a good job shooting the ball outside when we were down by 10,” said Lady Wolves head coach Gwyn Young. “We also made some good passes on the inside and we had a very good combination of outside and inside game, and great sophomore leadership.”

Averyale Joy led the Lady Rangers with 17 points. Sara Lytle added 15 points. Brianna Williams led the team with 10 rebounds.

The Lady Wolves shot 46 percent (32-of-69) from the field, 35 percent (8-of-23) from three-point range, and 38 percent (3-of-8) from the foul line. The Lady Rangers shot 36 percent (25-of-69) from the field, 29 percent (8-of-28) from three-point range, and 91 percent (10-of-11) from the free throw line.

In other opening round action North No. 1 Itawamba defeated South No. 4 Southwest 58-52 and South No. 2 Jones County defeated North No. 3 Holmes 69-58.