SCOOBA – Freshmen Leah Lytle and Carshava Sutton combined to score 26 big points off the bench and Northwest held East Mississippi to 33 percent shooting as they clinched a spot in this year's MACJC Tournament with a 67-55 win over the Lady Lions. 

Northwest improved to 17-5 overall and 8-3 in the north division with the win, and thanks to a Holmes win over Northeast, the Lady Rangers can win the division Thursday night in Senatobia with a win over Holmes. EMCC fell to 6-16 overall and 4-7 in the north.

Trailing by four, 20-16, with 7:42 to play in the opening half, Northwest took control of the game with a 16-1 run to end the period and never looked back. They led 32-21 at intermission.

Lytle scored 12 of her 14 points in the first and connected on 3 of 4 shots from beyond the arc.

Northwest shot 40 percent from the floor while holding EMCC to just 25 percent on 6 of 24 shooting.

The lead grew to a game-high 46-29 with 13:36 to play before EMCC cut it down to nine with just under 8 minutes to play thanks to back-to-back 3s from Leah Isabelle.

But the Lady Lions would get no closer the rest of the way as Northwest was able to keep it a double digit game down the stretch to preserve the road win.

Tiesha Tunstall had another big game for Northwest and led all scorers with 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting, followed by 14 from Lytle and 12 from Sutton.

EMCC was led by 12 points from Takera Mitchell and 11 from Charmane Tims.

Northwest will try and capture its first north division championship since the 2009-10 season on Thursday, Feb. 21 when they welcome Holmes to Senatobia for a 5 p.m. tipoff.

Live video at www.ihigh.com/nwccrangers and live stats at www.sidearmstats.com/northwestms/wbball.