ELLISVILLE – Co-Lin guard Latoria Holder sacked 21 first-halfpoints and finished with a game-high 28, leading the Co-Lin LadyWolves to a 92-56 Monday trouncing of the Northeast Lady Tigers inthe opening round of the MACJC State Basketball Tournament. Holder,a freshman from Lumberton, also had 5 assists and 4 steals.

Coach Gwyn Young’s Lady Wolves (23-2), seeded No. 1 out of theSouth Division and ranked 10th nationally, play Itawamba inWednesday’s semifinals, with tipoff set for noon. Host Jones County(20-6) plays East Mississippi (21-4) in the other semifinalsgame.

In other opening round action, East Miss. eliminated Southwest67-58, Itawamba booted East Central 74-69, and Jones dumpedNorthwest 99-76.

The first round of the men’s bracket is on tap today. Co-Lin,seeded fourth out of the South, faced North No. 1 Itawamba noon.Gulf Coast meets East Mississippi at 2 p.m., followed by Holmesversus Pearl River at 5 and Jones vs. Coahoma at 7.

“Holder had a very good game for us,” said Coach Young.”Itawamba will be a tough test. They have some good guards and somestrong post players.”

Co-Lin sprang to a 22-zip lead against Northeast. PlaymakerTeAirra Wilbert got her team off to a fast start. She sacked a treyand a free throw for an early 4-point lead.

The Lady Tigers went nearly 7 minutes before scoring.

In the second half, freshman Shareka Hunt came off the bench andscored 16 points for Co-Lin. Rhonda Dumas and Shasta Porter eachhad 10 points in the victory.

Co-Lin led 41-27 at halftime.

On the backboards, Dumas, Hunt and Shrica Ward each had 8rebounds, pacing Co-Lin to a 42-38 rebounding advantage.

Northeast (10-14), seeded fourth out of the North Division, got16 points and 11 rebounds from Shefarrah Turner. The Lady Tigerswere a cold 26 percent from the field compared to Co-Lin’s 52percent.