WESSON — Disappointment.

That was the major emotion displayed on Co-Lin’s bench as theLady Wolves watched the Northeast Community College Lady Tigerscelebrate and pose with their MACJC State Basketball Tournamentchampionship trophy Thursday night in Mullen Gymnasium. Northeasthad slammed the title door on Co-Lin, beating the Lady Wolves 64-51before a near-capacity, partisan crowd.

Northeast (19-6) claimed its 9th state championship for veterancoach Ricky Ford. The Lady Tigers used an aggressive, stickydefense and a strong rebounding effort to upset Co-Lin (25-3), theNJCAA’s No. 9-ranked team. They dominated the backboards, holding alopsided 45-32 rebounding margin, led by Erica Grayson’s 10 boardsand 19 points.

“Our defense was the difference,” said Ford, a 25-year coachingwizard at Northeast. “Defensively, our kids contained three ofCo-Lin’s better players: No. 21 (Nikki Williams), No. 52 (EricaTrahan) and No. 11 (Hanna Porter). Their offense had been real goodin the semifinals against Delta.”

By comparison, the Lady Wolves struggled offensively againstNortheast. They shot just 30 percent from the field and made 35percent of their free throws.

Co-Lin head coach Gwyn Young has won 5 state championships inhis 30 years at the helm. Thursday night’s performance deeplydisappointed him.

“I was disappointed with the way we played,” said Young. “Westarted out bad. Northeast played real aggressive defense and wedidn’t match that intensity until late in the game.

“When we finally got ahead, we made some dumb plays,” hecontinued. “Some of our players didn’t play well.”

Northeast managed a 29-23 halftime lead. The Tigers’ 12first-half turnovers kept from holding a much larger advantage.

Grayson, a 5-foot-11 freshman from Corinth, said the Tigersplayed well in a hostile environment. “I felt like we stepped it upa little bit tonight. We dug deeper.”

Encouraged by the partisan crowd, Co-Lin fought back in thesecond half. Freshman Alisha Mason’s trey gave Co-Lin its firstlead of the game at 42-41 with 11:41 left to play. Williamsfollowed with a pair of free throws for a 44-41 advantage.

When Northeast’s Krystal Robinson powered inside for a shortjumper, the Tigers had regained the lead at 45-44 and Co-Lin neverrecovered. Co-Lin was outrebounded 17-3 in the last 9 minutes ofthe game.

Robinson, a strong 6-foot sophomore from Covington, Tenn.,finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Trahan and Williams eachscored 11 points for Co-Lin. Mason netted 11 points and 5 reboundsbut sat out over 5 minutes when she drew her fourth personalfoul.

Northeast will be seeded No. 1 in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournamentat Mississippi College in Clinton next week. The Tigers aredefending regional champions and scheduled to play Meridian at 6p.m. Tuesday.

Co-Lin, runner-up to Northeast in last year’s regional, facesEast Central Tuesday at 2 p.m. in A.E. Wood Coliseum.