Southwest sweeps hoops doubleheader from Co-Lin

Published 3:00 pm Sunday, January 28, 2024

It was a sweep for the homestanding Southwest Mississippi Bears in Summit on Thursday after they took a pair of games over their visiting rivals from Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

Southwest took the opening women’s game 84-44 and then won the men’s game in overtime, 96-84.

The first quarter of the women’s matchup was a low scoring one as SW led 9-7 heading into the second quarter. That second quarter was when Southwest created separation by outscoring CLCC by 16 points to lead 36-18 at the halftime break.

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Co-Lin shot just 32.1 percent from the floor and was short handed with starting guard Kayla Howard out.

The Wolves went 1-of-10 from the 3-point line and turned the ball over 20 times.

Freshman guard Alexanjria Washington (Canton High) was the only Co-Lin player in double figures with 11 points.

Southwest moves to 10-4 on the season. Veronica Williams led Southwest with 19 points. The Bears also got 10 points from former West Lincoln standout Kara Beth Addison.

Co-Lin and coach Britta Stephens are 8-7 and will be back at home on Feb. 1 when they host East Mississippi (3-14).

The men’s game saw CLCC have a chance to win the game in regulation, but that shot fell short. Co-Lin saw a 61-55 lead with nine minutes remaining evaporate as the score was tied 75-75 going into overtime.

Southwest led 41-33 at the halftime break.

Freshman Emmanuel James (Nigeria) led Co-Lin with 25 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

After shooting the nets out earlier in the week in a win over Northwest Mississippi, Co-Lin wasn’t as sharp from deep as they finished 7-of-23 from the 3-point line.

Co-Lin’s leading scorer, Devin Carter (Florence High), was held to just four points and went 0-of-5 from the 3-point line. Carter is averaging 20 points per game this season.

Courterius Scott (Murrah High) scored 19 points while Ismail Rashid added 16 points for the Wolves.

Freshman guard Will Grayson (Yazoo City) came off the bench to score nine points for CLCC head coach David Sanders in 30 minutes of action.

The win was the first MACCC victory of the season for Southwest as its record moved to 10-6. Co-Lin is 10-5 and saw a four-game winning streak snapped. The Wolves are 2-1 in MACCC play and the defeat was also the first loss of the season for them to a team from Mississippi after previously only losing to schools from Florida.