CLINTON – After being left out of the MACJC State Tournament last week, the Co-Lin Lady Wolves felt like they had something to prove in this week’s NCAA Region 23 Tournament.

The Lady Wolves upset the newly crowned State Champions and No. 1 seed Jones County Junior College Lady Bobcats 63-58 in the opening round of the tournament held at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College. JCJC had swept the regular season series against Co-Lin 69-64 and 70-67.

Co-Lin (17-7) advances to the semifinals and will play Baton Rouge Community College (La.) at noon on Friday. The Lady Bears edged Meridian Community College, 80-79. Listen live at www.colinathletics.com or on WMJU 104.3 FM in Brookhaven.

In the other half of the tournament bracket in women’s action, Southwest knocked off East Mississippi 72-64 and Pearl River clobbered LSU-Eunice 84-68.

Lady Wolves 63, Lady Bobcats 58 

The Lady Bobcats led by as many as nine points in the first half at 32-23. But the Lady Wolves would score the final six points of the half and trailed 32-29 at halftime.

In the second half, the Lady Wolves went on a 9-0 run JCJC went ahead 42-38 with 13:48 to play when Crystal Clay made a free throw. But the Lady Wolves then went on a 9-0 run and took the lead for good as Tyrisha Patterson’s short jumper with 12:40 remaining gave Co-Lin the lead for good at 43-42.

The Lady Wolves would extend their longest lead of the game at 56-46 with 6:32 to play on another Patterson basket. But the Lady Bobcats went on an 8-0 run of their own and cut the lead to 56-54 with 2:50 left. Co-Lin would answer the Lady Bobcat threat and take a 61-56 lead with 28.3 seconds left.

Jones County’s Kaylan Hughes would knock down a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 61-58 with 19.2 seconds remaining, but that’s as close as the Lady Bobcats would get as Keyana Miller sank two free throws with 7.4 seconds left to ice the game.

Miller led the Lady Wolves with 17 points and five rebounds. Claresa Banks chipped in 12 points followed by Ashley Minor with 10 points.

Hughes had double-double for Jones, scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Alyson Johnson added 11 points. Caitlyn Spane had nine rebounds. The Lady Bobcats finish the season at 19-8.

The Lady Wolves two prior meetings with Baton Rouge, dropping a 80-66 decision on Nov. 11 in Baton Rouge and taking a 63-51 win on Jan. 7 in Wesson.