WESSON — Tonight’s home date against the Delgado (La.)Community College Dolphins will be the final tune-up for the Co-LinWolves and Lady Wolves. Next up is a demanding series of 14straight games against South Division opponents, starting with EastCentral, Jan. 10, at Decatur.

The South Division is strong,” said Co-Lin women’s basketballcoach Gwyn Young. “We have to play solid on defense. Our half-courtand match-up zone must work for us.”

Young’s Lady Wolves have struggled through the first half of thecampaign, going 6-4 prior to the Christmas break. Turnovers havebeen a major concern for the veteran coach.

“We have been throwing the ball away,” said Young. His team isaveraging an uncharacteristic 20.5 turnovers per game.

“Toward the end of the semester, we had started playing morelike we needed to,” said Young “We need to handle the ball betterand run our offense better. We need to be more selective on ourshots.”

The Lady Wolves are making 47 percent of their 2-point fieldgoal attempts and 23 percent from 3-point range. They areoutrebounding opponents 38.9-25.6 per game.

On the backboards, 5-10 sophomore Travalyn Smith of Union Churchdirects the rebounding and scoring effort. Smith averages 9.8rebounds and 15.3 points per game.

Sophomore forward Loretta Martin of Kenner, La., follows Smith.She averages 9.7 ppg and 5.1 rpg.

Sophomore center Crystal Brown of Natchez averages 6.2 ppg and3.8 rpg. Freshman post Kristian McCray of Brookhaven averages 5.3ppg and 4.6 rpg.

Co-Lin’s backcourt is led by sophomore guard Gloria Lewis ofNatchez. She averages 11.2 points, 2.9 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.0rebounds per game.

Sophomore guard Jessica Melton of Bogue Chitto is averaging 6.5ppg and 4.0 rpg. She missed 6 games due to a foot injury.

Sophomore guard Dana King of Brookhaven (West Lincoln) averages.5.9 ppg. She is the team’s top trey shooter, making 14 of 56 or 25percent.

The Wolves (5-5), coached by Dennis Sims, carrya .500 record into tonight’s contest against Delgado. They areaveraging 75.2 ppg while opponents average 68.5 ppg.

Directing the Co-Lin attack is sophomore guard Ledell Eackles ofBaton Rouge. He’s averaging 16.2 points and 2.0 rpg.

Joining Eackles in double digits are freshman Joe Holliday (12.1ppg) of Baton Rouge and sophomore guard Dexter Middleton (10.3 ppg,4.1 rpg) of Brookhaven.

Best on the backboards is freshman Tremaine Enoch of Mendenhall(8.1 rpg). He averages 7.1 ppg.

Freshman Arvel Keys of Mendenhall averages 4.0 rpg.

The South Division menu concludes Feb. 24 and the statetournament begins Feb. 28 at the home of the South Division men’schampion. Only the top two teams out of each division advance tothe state tourney.

The NJCAA Region 23 Tournament is March 7-10, at MississippiCollege in Clinton.