WESSON — Co-Lin men’s head basketball coach Dennis Simsoptioned to sign players with speed instead of height and it paidoff Thursday night. The host Wolves kicked off their season-openerat Mullen Gymnasium with a 60-57 win over the Holmes Bulldogs.

In the women’s game, missed free throws came back to hauntCo-Lin as the Lady Wolves dropped their first game of the season tothe Lady Bulldogs 60-55 in overtime.

“We are not a big team,” said Sims following the win. “We haveguys with speed. It was a team effort, offensively anddefensively.”

The Wolves opened the first half with an 8-point run for anearly 8-0 lead until the Bulldogs scored their first basket at the17:32 mark. The game went back and fourth until Holmes’ TerranceAtkins hit a jumper to give the Bulldogs a 1-point, 26-25 lead atthe half.

Co-Lin came out and went on a 16-0 run to go ahead 41-26 beforeHolmes went back into its zone defense and got back into thegame.

Holmes held a 3-point, 57-54, lead with 1:51 left to play whenCo-Lin’s Ledell Eackles netted a pair of big free throws to cut theBulldogs lead to 57-56. Dexter Middleton nailed a key jumper with48 seconds left to give the Wolves a 58-57 lead.

Following a Sims timeout, Eackles got an offensive rebound andwas fouled by Holmes with 10.6 seconds. Eackles scored both freethrows for a 60-57 lead. Atkins missed a desperation 3-pointer andthe Bulldogs fell short on a field goal as time expired.

Powering the Wolves was sophomore guard Jeremy Richardson with19 points and 7 rebounds. Sophomore center Derek Jarvis, whodropped 34 pounds over the summer, pumped in 12 points and led offthe backboards with 8 rebounds. Eackles contributed 10 points andmade 6 rebounds.

For Coach Todd Kimble’s Bulldogs, Atkins led the way with agame-high 30 points, including six 3-pointers. Kendall Grandersonfinished with 9 points.

Holmes 60, Co-Lin 55 (OT)

The Lady Wolves led 1-0 in the opening minutes but got behindthe Lady Bulldogs quickly and did not retake the lead until the6:46 mark when sophomore Victoria Richardson nailed 2 free throwsto give the hosts a 14-13 lead. At halftime, Co-Lin was on top25-22. Freshmen Jessica Melton and Demetrice Jackson collectedthree 3-points apiece in the first half.

In the second half, the team exchanged leads until Holmes’ MeganColona hit 2 free throws for a 55-54 lead with 34 seconds left toplay. Co-Lin freshman Lauren Williams went 1-for-2 from the charityline with 33 seconds left to tie the game and force it intoovertime at 55-all.

In overtime, Holmes outscored Co-Lin 5-0 for the 60-55 win.Co-Lin was 0-3 from the free throw line and couldn’t buy abasket.

“We have to get better in many phases of the game,” added Young.”We have to go to work and get better. We have to learn from this.We had a lot of chances.”

Melton paced the Lady Wolves with 14 points and 4 assists.Richardson followed with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.Jackson fired in 9 points and had 4 assists. Williams pulled down 7rebounds.

Directing Coach Chanda Rigby’s Lady Bulldogs with 22 points wasfreshman forward Ida Edwards. Mahogany Wilson finished with 15points. Nikki Meeks led off the backboards with 10 reboundsfollowed by Shalonda Williams and LaTrice Rone with 6 reboundsapiece.

“We made too many mistakes,” said Co-Lin women’s head coach GwynYoung. “We had the chance to win at the end of regulation. We madesome bad decisions.”

Co-Lin travels to Coahoma Monday. The women play at 6 p.m.followed by the men at 8.