CLINTON – A late scoring spree by Baton Rouge’s Lanae Bickham proved to be the difference in a 78-70 win for the Lady Bears over the Copiah-Lincoln Lady Wolves Friday in the NJCAA Region 23 tournament semifinals.

Bickham, a 5-foot-1 freshman, scored nine straight points with 4:30 remaining and the game tied at 59. She hit two straight three pointers and then collected an old fashioned three point play to give the Lady Bears command of the game.

It was Co-Lin who started with the hot hand as the Lady Wolves (17-8) jumped out to a 20-10 lead to begin the game. The Lady Bears (23-6) wouldn’t go away, and by halftime they had cut the Co-Lin lead to two, 35-33.

The two teams had split their regular season meetings with Baton Rouge winning 80-66 on their home court in Nov. and Co-Lin winning 63-51 in Wesson on Jan. 7. It was the third region tournament meeting for the two teams with Co-Lin having won the previous two matchups.

Baton Rouge had three players scored over 20 points, led by Bickham with 24. Rosa Bryant scored 23 and Ashley Williams put up 21. Bryant pulled down a game high 16 rebounds.

Claresa Banks led Co-Lin with 18 points. Ashley Minor scored 14, Caroline Lumpkin scored 13, and Tyra Gibson scored 12 points for the Lad Wolves. Minor pulled down 12 rebounds.