CLINTON — The East Central Lady Warriors lost the battle of the boards and had troubling finishing shots in their 63-52 loss to Co-Lin Community College in the opening round of the Region 23 Tournament held at Mississippi College’s AE Wood Coliseum.

The Lady Warriors got off to a slow start offensively and struggled inside against Co-Lin’s physical defense.

“We didn’t shoot a very high percentage,” said East Central coach Billy Smith. “We missed a lot of easy shots early on and I think they had a lot to do with that because they are very physical. We missed a lot of free throws and that killed us.”

The Lady Wolves used second chance points to build a lead and held off the Lady Warriors when East Central made a run at the end of the game.

“We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds,” said Smith. “Give them a lot of credit though. They just must have wanted it worse than we did.”

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half but Co-Lin put together a 13-4 run to take a 22-14 lead with 4:10 remaining in the half.

Shannon Lloyd responded with a bucket for East Central and Sara Judice scored four points to cut the lead back down to six points with 2:44 remaining in the first.

The Lady Wolves held a 25-21 lead at the half.

East Central cut the lead to two points to open the second half on a basket by Lloyd but Co-Lin slowly stretched the lead out to seven points with 16:20 remaining.

Co-Lin got going offensively midway through the second half and used offensive rebounds to get second chance buckets.

The Lady Wolves went on a 11-5 run to stretch their lead out to 13 points with 11:20 remaining.

Co-Lin stretched its lead out to as many as 15 points on two occasions in the second half but East Central fought back in the final minutes of the game.

Valerie Harris cut the lead to 55-42 with a basket with just under three minutes left to play.

The Lady Warriors used pressure to force a couple of turnovers and Lloyd scored on a put back with 2:34 left to cut the lead down to 55-44.

LaSaundra Harrison cut the lead down to single digits with a three-pointer with 1:46 left to play.

The Lady Wolves missed three-of-four free throws over the next minute but East Central could only add a free throw to its total during the stretch.

Co-Lin held off the Lady Warrior run to take the 63-52 win and improve to 19-7 for the season.

Harris led East Central with 18 points while Lloyd scored 15. East Central fell to 17-10 for the season with the loss.