POPLARVILLE – The first two games in the opening round of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College (MACJC) Women’s State Basketball Tournament provided upsets and the Mississippi Delta Lady Trojans appeared to be on their way to upsetting the South No. 1 seed Co-Lin Lady Wolves. But the Lady Wolves rallied in the last 18.2 seconds to escape with a 67-63 Monday win.

In the first game of the day, the Northeast Lady Tigers (North No. 3) knocked off the Mississippi Gulf Coast Lady Bulldogs (South No. 2) 68-66 in overtime. In game two, the Jones County Lady Bobcats (South No. 4) upset the Northwest Lady Rangers (North No. 1) 77-60. In the final game of the day, the Itawamba Lady Indians (North No. 2) defeated the Southwest Lady Bears (South No. 3) 50-41.

In the first semifinal game on Wednesday, Northeast (13-10) will play Jones County (12-9) at 1 p.m. and Co-Lin (21-3) will play Itawamba (16-8).

“We struggled offensively in the second half but we turned it up with our full-court defense,” said Co-Lin coach Gwyn Young. “Chanta Poole had a very good shooting game for us. She scored 16 the second half.”

With 18.2 seconds remaining in the game, sophomore Chanta Poole’s kissed a trey from deep in the right corner for a 65-63 lead. Delta had a chance to tie or go ahead, but Co-Lin’s pressure defense forced a Lady Trojan turnover.

Freshman guard Ashley Minor sank two free throws with 7.1 seconds left to ice the game and give the Lady Wolves the 67-63 win.

The Lady Wolves jumped out to an early 10-4 lead, but Delta tied the game on a pair of free throws by Krystal Nailer at the 11:31 mark of the first half. The lead would seesaw back and forth as the two teams tied at 31-all at halftime.

Delta came out hot in the second half, going on a 12-5 run and taking a 43-36 lead with 14:46 left in the game. A basket by Nailer at the 12:30 mark in the second half would give the Lady Trojans their largest lead of the game at 45-36.

But the Lady Wolves clawed their way back, behind Poole’s 16-second half points. Her trey with 7:22 remaining tiee the game at 51-all. Jessica Wilson’s bucket at the 6:27 mark would give the Lady Wolves their first lead of the second half at 53-51.

Two free throws by Shanarika McCullum gave the Lady Trojans a 63-59 lead with lees than 5 minutes remaining.

Delta outshot Co-Lin 40 percent (25-of-62) from the field to 38 percent (22-of-58). The Lady Trojans held a slight 39-37 lead over the Lady Wolves in rebounding.

Coach Brunadette McDonald’s squad went 11-of-12 from the free throw line for 92 percent. The Lady Wolves, who made 3-of-7 free throws in the first half, would hit 12-of-13 free throws in the second half, which would prove to be difference.

Poole, a 5-foot-8 guard from Ferriday, La., had a game-high 22 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead the Lady Wolves. Jessica Wilson chipped in 10 points. LaVasha Allen led off the backboards with 8 rebounds. Tiffany Sims and Laura Beth Wright dished out 5 assists apiece.

The Lady Trojans had four players in double figures led by Krystal Nailer who came off the bench to score 12 points. Z’hara Williams added 11 points. Myiesha Stewart and Shuntequa Lofton chipped in 10 points apiece. Stewart led MS Delta on the backboards with 7 rebounds.

The men will take the court on Tuesday as South No. 2 Jones County (17-6) will play North No. 3 Miss. Delta (9-12) in the first game at 1 p.m., North No. 1 East Miss. (17-6) will tangle with South No. 4 Miss. Gulf Coast (16-7) at 3 p.m. North No. 2 Northwest Miss. (16-6) plays South No. 3 Southwest Miss. (15-8) at 5 p.m., and South No. 1 Pearl River (19-4) takes on North No. 4 Coahoma (9-12) in the final game of the evening.

This will be the second meeting of the season for Co-Lin and Itawamba. The Lady Wolves took 62-48 on Jan. 10 in Wesson.

Fans can watch all the action of the MACJC State Tournament at www.ihigh.com/prcc Listen to the Lady Wolves on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at www.colinathleitcs.com or on WMMU 104.3 FM in Brookhaven.