POPLARVILLE — Sophomore forwards Crystal Brown and LorettaMartin pumped in 13 points each Thursday night to lead the Co-LinLady Wolves to a 74-59 South Division win over the Pearl River LadyWildcats. Brown also pulled down seven rebounds followed by Martinwith four rebounds and five steals.

In the men’s game, Pearl River handed Co-Lin an 81-64 loss, theWolves first in South Division action.

The Lady Wolves improved to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in conferenceplay. The Co-Lin men fall to 11-6 on the season and 5-1 inconference action.

The Pearl River men improved to 3-3 in the conference and 9-8overall. The Lady Wildcats fell to 2-4 in the conference and 2-4 onthe season.

Co-Lin 74, Pearl River 59

The Co-Lin women broke the game open with five minutes left inthe first half.

“We changed to our matchup zone and it gave them (Lady Wildcats)some trouble and we did a better job of scoring from our defenseand running our offense,” said Co-Lin women’s head coach GwynYoung. The Lady Wolves were 12-of-13 from the free throw line inthe first half.

Co-Lin led Pearl River 36-24 at halftime.

“”We continued with our matchups and it caused the same problemsbut our lack of execution on offense gave them a chance to cut intoour lead. After they cut the lead to 5 points, we started to playbetter on offense and defense.

” It was a great win for us against a good and well coachedteam,” added Young. “Like always, we still have room forimprovement in our game.”

Travalyn Smith fired in 11 points and grabbed four rebounds forthe Lady Wolves. Jessica Melton fired in 10 points, grabbed threerebounds, made three steals and had three assists. Dana King netted3 three-pointers for nine points.

Carmen LaBat directed Pearl River with 17 points and threesteals. Ashley Jenn and Shannon Primos pulled down six reboundsapiece.

Pearl River 81, Co-Lin 64

The Wolves led the Wildcats by 11 points near the 12-minute markbefore going cold on offense and allowing the hosts to take a 41-29lead at halftime.

“The Wolves seem to stand around and became satisfied to launchthree’s,” said Co-Lin men’s head coach Dennis Sims. “We just didn’tfocus and try to give ourselves a chance to win. Pearl Riverphysically took it to us and we backed down.”

Powering the Wolves with 23 points, three rebounds, three stealsand three assists was Ledell Eackles. Freshman guard Joe Hollidaypumped in 18 points. Netting 10 points, grabbing five rebounds andmaking four assists was Dexter Middleton. Ivory Dishmon led withfive assists.

The top scorer for Pearl River was Alton Robinson with 23 pointsand seven rebounds. Napoleon Roberts fired in 16 points and led offthe backboards with eight rebounds. Finishing with 15 points wasJeremy Holder.

Co-Lin entertains division foe Jones County Monday night atMullen Gymnasium. The women begin play at 6 p.m.