CLINTON — The Holmes Community College Lady Bulldogs eliminatedthe Co-Lin Lady Wolves 67-64 Wednesday afternoon in the semifinalsof the NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament at A.E. Wood Coliseumon the Mississippi College campus.

Holmes battles East Central today at 6 p.m. in the women’schampionship game. East Central knocked off state champion and No.1 seed Itawamba 75-59 in Wednesday’s other semifinals contest.

In the men’s title game at 8, Mississippi Delta faces No. 1 seedItawamba. In yesterday’s action, Delta clipped Northeast 54-52 andItawamba bounced Bossier Parish (La.) 80-71.

Holmes 67, Co-Lin 64

“We had a chance to win the game late in the second half when wegot the lead,” said Co-Lin women’s coach Gwyn Young. “But we madetoo many mental mistakes, turnovers and bad decisions on defense.Give Holmes a lot of credit. They played very hard on defense andworked the ball well on offense.”

At halftime, Holmes led Co-Lin 26-24.

“In the first half, we struggled offensively, making only 8/ of32 from the field (25%),” explained Young. “We were getting goodshots but we could not get anything to fall for us. We ended thegame shooting only 36 percent from the field.”

Co-Lin was directed by sophomore forward Alisha Mason of Ruthwith 17 points and 9 rebounds. Freshman forward Rhonda Dumasfollowed with 15 points and 3 rebounds. Finishing with 11 pointswas Reisha Bullock.

Ashley Brown, a 5-5 sophomore guard from Sallis, powered theHolmes women with 18 points,10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists.Vanessa Anderson fired in 13 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, made2 steals and had 3 assists. Netting 11 points each were DominiqueHarris and Courtney O’Briant.

“We ended the season 18-9 and that is a good record for ourleague,” added Young. “I’m proud that we had a chance to play inthe state and Region 23 tournaments with no returning starters fromthe 2006-2007 season,” when Co-Lin finished 30-6, winning the stateand region titles and placing sixth in the NJCAA NationalTournament.

“We have a good group of freshmen returning,” continued Young.”We need to add a few new players and get ready for nextseason.”