The Copiah-Lincoln Community College basketball teams have both gotten the 2022-2023 season off to a solid beginning as the women’s team sits at 5-1 thus far and the men’s squad is also boasting a 4-2 overall record.

The lone defeat of the season for coach Gwyn Young’s women’s team was a 68-64 loss to Southern University-Shreveport at the Southwest Mississippi CC tournament on Tuesday.

The Wolves bounced back on Thursday to get a 61-54 win at home over Mississippi Gulf Coast. The team next plays at Baton Rouge on Monday, Nov. 21 and plays again in Mullen Gymnasium in Wesson on Thursday, Dec. 1 against Southwest Mississippi at 6 p.m.

Brookhaven High alum Ayanna McNairy is a starting guard for Co-Lin that transferred to the team after previously playing at Gulf Coast.

Thursday, she had seven points against her old team in 26 minutes.

CLCC has been led by the sophomore duo of guards Tandria Minor (Brandon High) and Zykeria Anderson (Raymond High) all season.

The small, quick pair of ball handlers were the lead scorers on Thursday with Minor getting 16 points and Anderson putting up 13 points of her own.

Franklin County product Ja’Sharreah Hunt, a freshman point guard at MGCCC, scored three points in 17 minutes on Thursday.

Coach Co-Lin men’s coach David Sanders and his team began the season with a big challenge when they traveled to Northwest Florida State in Niceville, Florida to play in a season opening tournament.

The Wolves went 0-2 in that event but showed that they’re a formidable opponent with an 82-79 overtime loss to NW Florida, the defending NJCAA National Champions.

Since then, the Wolves are 4-0 with two wins over Delgado of New Orleans, a home win over Baton Rouge CC and a victory last week at Lawson State in Alabama.

One area of strength for the CLCC men this season has been the depth of the bench. That depth was on display in a 94-75 road win at Delgado on Thursday.

Dylan Canoville, a 6-foot-6 freshman forward from Plantation, Florida, scored 18 points off the bench in 16 minutes of action.

Sophomore Jemario Hersey, a sophomore who prepped at Brookhaven High, also scored 15 points off the bench, including a 3-of-5 performance from the 3-point line.

Hersey has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and had a season best 22 points in a win over Delgado on Nov. 7

Hersey and sophomore center AJ Warnsley (Terry High) both chose to come back for a third year at Co-Lin after being granted that opportunity due to COVID-19.

Thursday against Delgado, Warnsley scored a team high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The Wolves play at LSU-Eunice on Saturday and at Holmes on Thursday, Dec. 1.

The CLCC men are back at home in Wesson when they’ll host LSU-Eunice on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 4 p.m.