FULTON — For a time, Co-Lin’s Lady Wolves had Itawamba’s LadyIndians on the ropes Tuesday night in the first round of the MACJCState Basketball Tournament. But the Lady Indians prevailed in asqueaker, winning 66-63.

Itawamba (18-8), the North Division’s No. 1 seed, advances totonight’s semifinals and plays Southwest. Co-Lin (17-8), the No. 4seed out of the South, hopes to qualify for next week’s NJCAARegion 23 Tournament at Mississippi College in Clinton. The LadyWolves won state and regional championships last season.

Meridian plays Holmes in the other women’s semifinals gametoday.

The Co-Lin men play Northeast today at 3:15 p.m. in thesemifinals. Itawamba plays Meridian at 7:45 in the other men’ssemis game.

In other women’s tournament games yesterday, South No. 1 seedMeridian beat East Mississippi 78-64, Holmes edged East Central74-69 and Southwest eliminated Northeast.

Itawamba 66, Co-Lin 63

In a closely fought contest, the Lady Wolves overcame a 35-29halftime deficit. Co-Lin went up 49-48 on a trey by guard ReishaBullock who poured in a game-high 22 points. Bullock fouled outlate in the game.

“We had some questionable calls,” said Young. “We threw it awayand missed about three shots right at the basket.”

Itawamba outscored Co-Lin 23-7 from the charity line.

Rhonda Dumas followed Bullock with 13 points and Kristin Ellisscored 12, plus grabbing 5 rebounds.

Young said his team started slowly. “We fought back and didn’tquit. We had a chance but we couldn’t overcome a couple of missedeasy shots and those missed free throws.”

Co-Lin sophomore forward Alisha Mason was in early foul trouble.She was limited to just 2 points and 3 rebounds.

Young said, “Itawamba is athletic. They execute well on offenseand play tough on defense.”

Guard Sanqueta Meardith powered the Lady Indians with 18 points.Keisha Shumpert and Jessica Collins had 14 points each in thevictory.

“It wasn’t pretty but we are thrilled to get a win againstCo-Lin,” said Itawamba coach Nancy Gray. “Co-Lin has a greatbasketball tradition.”

Co-Lin made 46 percent of its field goals and 70 percent of itsfree throws, 7 of 10. By comparison, Itawamba hit 40 percent fromthe field and 60 percent of its free throws, going 23 for 38 fromthe line.