The Southwest Lady Bears’ battle with the Copiah-Lincoln Lady Wolves on Monday night turned out to be one-sided, as the visiting Lady Wolves strengthened their hold on the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges South Division with a 78-59 win.
In the men’s game, the Wolves came from behind to win 66-64.
Ranked fourth in the country, the Co-Lin women moved to 19-0 on the season and 8-0 in the South. Southwest saw its six-game win streak snapped as the Lady Bears fell to 10-4 overall and 5-2 in the South.
The Lady Wolves took an early 2-0 lead and, aside from two ties in the first half, led the entire game. Going into the break with a 38-25 lead, Co-Lin stretched its advantage to as many as 21 points in the second half.
Pre-season All-American Octavia Bearden led the Lady Bears with 18 points on the night. Bearden was held to 3-of-9 shooting, but made all 12 of her free-throw attempts.
Also in double figures for Southwest was Ta’keya Felder with 10 points. Alisha Rayborn and Ivielle Stewart each added eight points.
Southwest was 17-of-26 from the free-throw line.
Co-Lin’s Rachel Vigers led all scorers with 24 points. The Lady Wolves made 9 of 17 charity shots.
In the men’s game, Southwest led by as many as 14 points in the first half before settling for a 35-25 lead at the break.
The visitors refused to go away, however, and battled back to tie the game at 48 with 8:30 to play in the game.
Four lead changes later, the Wolves took a 62-60 lead with 54 seconds to play and held on for the win.
P. J. McCray led Southwest with 15 points, while J.J. Brown and Blake Rhodus added nine points apiece. The Bears were good on 7 of 11 free throws.
Marcus Hooten netted 23 points to pace Co-Lin. The Wolves hit 17 of 20 free throws.
The Bears and Lady Bears will travel to East Central on Thursday. Game times are 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
