SCOOBA – It was déjà vu, the Jones County Lady Bobcats and theCo-Lin Lady Wolves met in the MACJC Sate Championship finals forthe second straight year. Unfortunately for the Lady Wolves, theoutcome was the same as it was last year, the Lady Bobcats winningtheir second straight championship by defeating the Lady Wolves72-62. Jones defeated the Lady Wolves 59-57 in last year’schampionship finals. Both teams will advance to next week’s NJCAARegion 23 Championships next week at the A.E. Wood Coliseum on thecampus of Mississippi College in Clinton. The Lady Wolves (24-1)will face Southwest in the opening round on Monday at 6 p.m.

In the men’s championship game, Pearl River beat EastMississippi 61-58.

The No. 3 ranked Lady Wolves entered the game undefeated at24-0. They had previously beaten Jones (22-5) twice during theregular season, 85-67 in Wesson and 87-72 in Ellisville.

With the game tied at 6-all, the Wolves went on a 7-0 run totake a 13-6 early in the first half. Co-Lin took their largest leadof the game 15-9 on a Rachel Vigers 3-pointer with 13:31 left inthe first half. But the Bobcats broke a 30-all on a basket byDominique Evans to take a 32-30 lead into halftime. That would be alead they would never relinquish. It was the first time all seasonthat the Wolves trailed an opponent at the half.

The Bobcats came out in the second half on fire as they went ona 19-7 run on their way to a 51-37 lead at the 11:00 mark in thesecond half. Co-Lin would mount a comeback pulling to 68-62 with 38seconds left in the game on a basket by Brandi Simmons. Freshmanguard Tanecka Carey went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to sealthe game for Jones.

“Jones played really hard and physical today,” said Co-Lin headcoach Gwyn Young. “I felt like we didn’t match how hard they playedespecially on defense and on the backboards.”

The Bobcats out rebounded Co-Lin 38-29 and outscored the Wolvesin the paint

Leading four Bobcats in double figures was Carey with 20 points,7 rebounds and 7 assists. Ashley Lee pumped in 15 points, 11 ofthose came in the first half. Brigit Taylor chipped in 13 pointsand pulled down 12 rebounds. Erica Moore added 10 points.

For the Wolves, Simmons recorded a double-double with 20 pointsand 10 rebounds. Latoria Holder added 15 points and dished out 8assists. Rachel Vigers chipped in 15 points.