WESSON — The Co-Lin Lady Wolves needed a South Division win andgot it at the expense of the visiting Southwest Lady Bears Thursdaynight.

Powered by a strong offensive first half, the Lady Wolvesmarched to a 70-49 division win over the Lady Bears before a vocalcrowd in Mullen Gymnasium.

The win improved Co-Lin’s division record to 4-2 and 9-6 on theseason. Southwest falls to 5-11 overall and 2-4 in divisionplay.

“We wanted to stay in the hunt,” said Co-Lin women’s coach GwynYoung following the win. “We played well in spurts. We had goodbench play. We got on the boards pretty good. We needed to come outand play well.”

Co-Lin forward Travalyn Smith set the tempo in the openingminutes of the first half. Smith, a 5-10 freshman from UnionChurch, scored the first five points of the game for a 5-0 lead atthe 19:06 mark. And the Lady Wolves never looked back.

A field goal from sophomore forward Victoria Richardson at the9:59 mark put the Lady Wolves up by 11 points, 22-9. The Lady Bearscut the deficit to nine points, 35-26, with 1:06 left in the firsthalf when Co-Lin sophomore forward Renee Fields hit a pair of freethrows and followed up with a field goal to push the Lady Wolves’lead to 39-26 at halftime.

“Their strength is on the boards,” stated Southwest women’s headcoach Mark Swindle. “Our game plan was to keep them off theglass.”

In the second half, Co-Lin continued to maintain its lead on thebackboards, outrebounding Southwest 43-33 by the end of thegame.

In the final 1:26 of the game, Co-Lin freshman forward Ava Browndrew big cheers from the partisan crowd when she hit a pair ofjumpers for four points and a 21-point victory.

Powering the Lady Wolves with 10 points apiece were Richardsonand Smith. Richardson led off the backboards with nine rebounds.Lauren Williams netted nine points, grabbed six rebounds andblocked a shot. Gloria Lewis collected six rebounds and made twosteals.

Powering the Lady Bears with a game-high 26 points was freshmanguard Christin Bradford. Bradford had 15 points in the first half.Erika Holloway and Hillary Branch pulled down six reboundsapiece.

Swindle was pleased with the toughness Bradford plays with. “Sheplays like a warrior.”

The Co-Lin teams visit Utica Monday to meet Hinds.