Co-Lin rally sinks Northeast; puts Lady Wolves in semis

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, March 7, 2001

CLINTON – Overcoming a 13-day layoff, the Co-Lin Lady Wolvesrallied to beat Northeast’s Lady Tigers 64-56 Tuesday night in theNJCAA Region 23 Tournament at Mississippi College. Powering thevictory was freshman center Mindy Livaudais who scored 17 of hergame-high 19 points in the second half, plus grabbing 10rebounds.

The victory lands Co-Lin (24-1) in tonight’s semifinals in A.E.Wood Coliseum. The Lady Wolves face East Central (20-5) at 6 whilePearl River plays Northwest at 1.

Northwest eliminated Itawamba 82-69, Pearl River edged Meridian75-74 and East Central whipped Jones County 95-78 in yesterday’sother women’s games.

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Today’s men’s semifinals send Northwest against Holmes at 3 andCo-Lin against Jones County at 8. Championship finals in bothbrackets are Thursday night at 6 and 8.

Northeast coach Ricky Ford watched Livaudais and Christy Browndominate the paint last night. Brown scored 9 of her 11 points inthe first half, the only Co-Lin player who found the range asNortheast took a 22-21 halftime lead.

“(Co-Lin’s) big girls just dominated us on the inside,” saidFord. “We couldn’t stop them.”

Co-Lin forwards Denise Catchings and Tiffany Dales scored 11points apiece in the victory. Dales and Sheritha Simmons eachclaimed 7 rebounds.

Brown, a 5-9 freshman from Zachary, La., said the layoff causedthe Lady Wolves to start slowly. “Everybody was nervous and out ofsync at first. I’m happy to win this one.”

While Co-Lin struggled offensively, the Lady Wolves wereconcentrating on defense. They held high-scoring Tamika Pierce to17 points, including a 9-for-9 showing at the free throw line.

Pierce, the region’s leading scorer, also had 14 rebounds. Shefouled out with 1:25 left in the game

“We did a good job on Pierce but it was a sorry game, especiallythe first half,” said Co-Lin coach Gwyn Young. “Our girls were tookeyed up and we couldn’t get in the flow of the game.”

Young watched his team struggle offensively in the first half asrotated players in search of the right combination. Two field goalsby Brown in the first 10 minutes of the game were the only Co-Linpoints not coming from the free throw line as Northeast led12-7.

“We tried to get everybody to settle down and relax,” saidYoung. “We were missing a bunch of field goals and not making ourfree throws.”

Co-Lin took its first lead of the game at 21-20 on a shortjumper by Brown with 18 seconds left on the clock.

In the second half, Livaudais went to work in the paint. Herfield goal and 2 free throws gave Co-Lin a 56-54 lead with 2:26left in the game.

When Pierce fouled out, Dales sank a pair of free throws, givingCo-Lin a 60-56 advantage with 1:25 left in the game. Simmonsfollowed with a jumper and Co-Lin led 62-56 with 48 secondsleft.