SENATOBIA – The visiting East Mississippi Lady Lions shot 57 percent from the floor and held Northwest to its second-lowest field goal percentage total of the season to pull away for a 66-50 victory and spoil a chance to send four sophomores out with a final home win.
East Mississippi improved to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in the north while Northwest dropped to 18-5 overall and 8-4 in division play.
One of the nation's best at getting to the free throw line, the Lady Rangers were held to just seven attempts from the charity stripe and were held without a field goal the final 4:28.
The lead changed five times in the game's opening 5:44 before an 11-0 Lady Lion run, sparked by Ki-Ki Patterson, put the visitors up 19-9.
Sophomore
Kristina Mays briefly interrupted the run with a shot from beyond the arc, off a
Bethany Lytle assist, but EMCC quickly pushed the lead back out to 12.
Northwest was able to score the final five points before the halftime buzzer sounded to pull within 33-26, with
Aspriona Gilbert converting on a three-point play and
Alexis Thomas finishing a steal and layup.
Sophomore
Tekevanna Young opened the second half with two jumpers, followed by B. Lytle's layup, and the Lady Rangers were quickly within 35-32. Young then brought the score to 39-38 after a steal and a fastbreak layup at the 15:01-mark.
Back-to-back runs by EMCC, 9-3 and 10-0, put the game out of reach at 60-45 with 5:04 to play.
EMCC outscored Northwest 40-22 in the paint and held Gilbert under double figures for the first time in 10 games.
Johnson led EMCC with a game-high 14 points and five rebounds while Patterson contributed 12 and Durham scored 10.
Young led Northwest with 12 points, three steals and three rebounds while
Sara Lytle scored 10 points and added three rebounds and two assists. Gilbert finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
Northwest will try and regroup for the MACJC State Tournament, set for Feb. 23-26 at Copiah-Lincoln. The Lady Rangers will open the tournament on Monday against Jones County. Tipoff is set for 7:45 p.m.