Burns pumps in 27 points; No. 8 Lady Wolves rebound

Published 6:00 am Tuesday, February 5, 2002

WESSON – The Copiah-Lincoln Community College women’s basketballteam had a week to think about their first loss of the season, a68-64 setback at Southwest in Summit. The Lady Wolves regrouped andcame back strong Monday night, whipping Gulf Coast 92-75 in MullenGymnasium, led by guard Tiania Burns with 27 points and 14rebounds.

Burns, a freshman from Nashville, Tenn., said last Monday’s losswas a wake-up call for the Lady Wolves. “We won’t lose another one.We didn’t play our game against Southwest.

“We played together more as a team tonight,” Burns pointed out.”I love this team. We needed a win to boost our confidence.”

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

The Lady Wolves (16-1, 6-1), ranked No. 8 in last week’s NJCAApoll, hope to maintain their No. 1 seeding in the South Divisionrace. Under a new playoff format this season, the State Tournamentwill feature the top four teams out of the North and SouthDivisions. In the past, division tournaments sent the top two teamsto the state tournament.

Co-Lin women’s coach Gwyn Young said he was happy to regain thewinning groove but he wanted a more complete game out of his team.”We didn’t play that well. We must get better on defense. We letthem drive inside and we didn’t rebound. We stood around a lot onoffense.

“We were not at a high level of intensity. Gulf Coast played ata slow pace because they lost some players.” Two of the LadyBulldogs, a guard and a post, have sustained torn ACLs.

Co-Lin resumes play Thursday night at East Central in Decatur.Tipoff is 6 p.m.

Burns was supported by 3 players in double digits last night.Sophomore post Christy Brown collected 23 points and 6 rebounds.Sophomore post Mindy Livaudais added 15 points and freshman forwardNikki Blakely had 10.

The Lady Wolves howled to a 42-29 halftime lead. They took a16-point, 60-44 lead as Burns bagged a pair of field goals and 2free throws with 11:27 left in the game.

Gulf Coast (10-7, 2-6), coached by Greg Holmes, got 20 pointsfrom Myeisha Mingo, a 5-8 freshman from Biloxi. Monique Cowan, a5-11 freshman post from Moss Point, had 10 points.

@Bbstandings:Co-Lin 92, Gulf Coast 75

Gulf Coast (75) Myeisha Mingo 20, Thurman 2, Draper 3,Davis 9, Hull 7, Carter 8, Lawson 7, Martha Bradley 0, Mary Bradley9, Cowan 10.

Co-Lin (92) Tiania Burns 27, Brown 23, Beeson 0,Townsend 1, Irvin 2, Altman 7, Blakely 10, Livaudais 15, Davis 0,S. Smith 6, Mason 0.

Halftime: Co-Lin 42-29.

Total fouls: Gulf Coast 22. Co-Lin 17. Fouledout-Carter, Cowan. Technicals: Cowan, Gulf Coast team.

Free Throws M-A: Gulf Coast 15-23. Co-Lin23=30.

3-point goals: Mingo 2, Livaudais 2, Bradley, Draper,Hull, Lawson.

Rebounds: Gulf Coast 32 (Lawson 8). Co-Lin 50 (Burns 14,Blakely 7).

Assists: Co-Lin (G. Smith 6) Steals: Co-Lin (G. Smith3).

Turnovers: Gulf Coast 19. Co-Lin 14.