WESSON — Sophomore post Anna Autman produced a strong firsthalf and the Co-Lin Lady Wolves held off the East Central CommunityCollege women 62-59 Monday night in Mullen Gymnasium. Autman, a5-foot-11 center from Brookhaven, hit her first 5 field goalattempts of the game and finished with 12 points as Co-Lin improvedits record to 5-4 overall and 1-0 in the South Division.

The Lady Wolves held an 8-point, 58-50 lead with a minute leftin the game on a 16-foot jumper by Nikki Williams. They made 4 of 7free throws in the last 48 seconds to clip East Central.

ECCC’s Sara Judice had made a driving layup with 4.8 secondsleft to play, reducing her team’s deficit to 61-59. Williams, a 5-7freshman from White Castle, La., made 1 of 2 free throws with 2.2seconds left and cemented the win. She led the Lady Wolves with 16points.

“We worked hard and played as a team tonight,” said Autman. “Wemade most of our easy shots. I was shooting pretty god to start thegame.”

Autman, 1 of 5 sophomores on the 15-member squad, said the youngteam has talent and the potential to keep improving. “We have speedon this team and people who can rebound. We will get better.”

Co-Lin head coach Gwyn Young said he saw some good and badthings in the victory. “We had a good first half. Everybody shotthe ball well. We rebounded the ball and our defense was good.”

The Lady Wolves claimed a 12-point, 33-21 halftime lead.

“In the second half we made some bad decisions on offense,”continued Young. “We had three options and we took the wrong oneseveral times.”

Jennifer Carter, a 5-8 sophomore from Magee, contributed 16points to the victory. “Carter had a good game,” said Young.

On the backboards, freshman Erica Trahan of Baton Rouge ledCo-Lin with 8 rebounds. Dominique Whitfield, a 5-11 freshman fromCrystal Springs, had 6 rebounds.

East Central (7-5, 0-1) got a game-high 18 points from LaSandraHarrison, a 5-2 sophomore southpaw from Union. Harrison’s trey fromthe corner had reduced Co-Lin’s lead to 60-57 with 20 seconds lefton the clock.

Judice, a 6-foot sophomore from Lafayette, La., chipped in 13points. Coach Bill Smith’s team got 12 points from ShannonLloyd.

Co-Lin visits archrival Southwest Thursday for a South Divisiontwinbill at Summit. Action tips off at 6 p.m. in Horace HolmesGymnasium.