SENATOBIA – Leading for most of the first half, Northwest had no answer for Quantesha Patterson and East Mississippi in the second half as the Lady Rangers fell 76-74 on Monday night.

Behind Patterson's monster double-double (34 points, 13 rebounds), EMCC improved to 12-2 overall and remained all alone atop the MACJC North Division standings with a 6-0 mark. Northwest, meanwhile, snapped its four-game win streak and fell to 11-3 and 4-2 in the division.

Northwest broke a 9-9 tie midway through the first period and closed the quarter on a 12-5 scoring run, which included four points from freshman Averyale Joy. The run helped the Lady Rangers to close the first period with a 21-14 advantage.

Northwest matched its largest advantage of the contest three times during the second period, leading EMCC by 11 with just over five minutes remaining before halftime. From there, the Lady Lions began to chip away at the lead, outscoring Northwest 11-5 over the final five minutes of the half. Patterson had six of her 34 points during that stretch, as the Lady Rangers' lead was shrunk to just 39-34 at halftime.

EMCC caught fire to open the second half, as the Lady Lions regained the lead on a layup from Tianna Germain at the 4:22-mark of the third. Northwest was outscored 8-2 in second chance points and 16-6 in the paint over the course of the third period. The Lady Rangers were also held scoreless from the field over the final five minutes of the quarter and trailed 55-51 heading to the fourth.

Northwest broke the scoring drought on back-to-back layups from Joy early in the fourth and cut the lead down to 61-60 after a Kelsey Brown 3-pointer. Even though the Lady Rangers kept things close throughout the remainder of the contest, EMCC never surrendered the lead and held off Northwest for the win.

It was a wild final 1:08 with the teams combining for 10 points. Sara Lytle's long 3-pointer cut it to 75-74 with three seconds left, and after EMCC hit one of two free throws, Northwest wasn't able to get a final halfcourt attempt off. 

Though both teams were fairly even in shooting percentages to end the night, the Lady Rangers were outscored in bench points (16-2) and in second chance points (14-6). 

Lytle led the Lady Rangers in the losing effort, chalking up a career-high 29 points on 11-of-20 shooting while adding four rebounds and four blocks. Brianna Williams and Kelsey Brown also reached double figures with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Joy dished out a career-high 10 assists in addition to her eight points.

In addition to Patterson's career-high 34-point performance, her fourth 30-point outing of the year, Ki-Ki Patterson also reached double digits for EMCC with 16 points and four assists.

Northwest will continue division play on Thursday, Jan. 28, traveling to Holmes for a 6 p.m. tipoff in Goodman.