Lady Wolves Sweep Through Coca-Cola Classic

SUMMIT – The Co-Lin Women's Basketball team hit the road for a pair of neutral site games at Southwest Mississippi Community College while playing in the Coca-Cola Classic. The Lady Wolves faced off against LSU-Eunice on Monday, November 17, and then faced Southern-Shreveport on Tuesday, November 18. The Lady Wolves won both games beating the Lady Bengals, 68-55, and taking a 65-42 win over the Lady Jaguars.

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The Lady Wolves took the lead early and never let up as they outscored the Lady Bengals, 14-10, in the first quarter and held a lead by that margin at the end of play. The Lady Wolves then outscored the Lady Bengals 21-18 in the second quarter to push their lead to 35-28 as the teams went into the locker rooms at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Lady Wolves added 17 points to their lead while holding the Lady Bengals to 14 and making the score, 52-42. The final quarter saw the Lady Wolves win again as they outscored the Lady Bengals, 16-13, to secure the 68-55 win.

"This was a great win for the Lady Wolves against a very tough LSU-Eunice team," said Co-Lin head coach Dr. Britta Stephens Belanger. "I thought we did a great job of handling their pressure while being poised against it and breaking their press. I thought we took really good shots in transition when we had rebounders."

The Lady Wolves had three members in double-digit scoring with two posting double-double performances as Kamaiyah Pruitt (Pass Christian) led the way with a huge performance of 24 points and 17 rebounds, both career highs, while Akeelah Hobson (Oakdale, LA) also had a career performance with 18 points and 12 points, also both career highs, while Eymani Key (Lafayette, LA) had 18 points with two rebounds, one assist, and one steal.

Amari Barnes (Tylertown) and Maddison Mitchell (Baton Rouge, LA) had three points each while Tyra Johnson (Morton) had two points to round out the scoring for the Lady Wolves.

"Kam Pruitt was excellent in this game. She rebounded well and was able to give us a lot of offensive production in the paint," added Stephens Belanger. "Maddi Mitchell did a great job of leading our team. Tyra Johnson was excellent defensively especially on the defensive boards. Eymani Key and Akeelah Hobson were very good in transition. They made a lot of short jumpers that helped us against their pressure."

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The Lady Wolves doubled up the Lady Jaguars in the first quarter, 20-10, and held the lead by that margin at the end of play. The Lady Wolves then held the Lady Jaguars to 10 points while adding 17 in the second quarter to push their lead to 37-20 as the teams entered the locker rooms at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Lady Wolves once again held the Lady Jaguars to 10 points while adding 16 to their lead to push the score to 53-30. In the fourth quarter both teams added 12 points each as the Lady Wolves secured the 65-42 victory.

"I did not think we played extremely well in this game, especially defensively," stated Stephens Belanger. "In the second half, we were too relaxed and gave up far too many rebounds."

The Lady Wolves had three players in double-digit scoring figures for the second straight game as Kamaiyah Pruitt led the way with a double-double performance of 18 points and 12 rebounds while Eymani Key had 11 points with four rebounds, three assists, and one block while Amari Barnes had a career-high with 16 points along with two rebounds and one assist.

Maddison Mitchell had eight points while Jalynn Applewhite (Gulfport) and Zariah Hatten (Taylorsville) had four points each. Akeelah Hobson had three points and Zion Nelson (Byram) had one point to round out the scoring for the Lady Wolves.

"Amari Barnes was a huge spark for our team off the bench in this game," added Stephens Belanger. "Anytime you can have three players scoring in double figures, you have a good chance of winning games. Winning back-to-back games on short prep is a hard thing to, but this tournament atmosphere prepares us for the region tournament later in the year, and I am happy that we are getting this experience now."

Co-Lin improves to 6-1 overall and will return to action on the road against South Arkansas on Thursday, November 20. Tip-off between the Lady Wolves and Lady Stars is set for 5:30 p.m., in El Dorado, Arkansas.