SENATOBIA – A three-point basket from Shelby Wilbanks that banked off the backboard and in with 6.5 seconds left in regulation doomed Northwest in a 98-97 overtime loss to Northeast Thursday night at Howard Coliseum.

Northeast improved to 7-6 on the season and 2-0 in the north, while Northwest dropped its third straight to fall to 6-4 overall and 0-2 in division play.

Despite a slow start that saw Northwest trail 13-8 early, the Lady Rangers crawled back in it during the second quarter and finally took the lead at 38-33 at halftime.

Northwest led by as many as 10 with 6:24 remaining in the third before the Lady Tigers slowly chipped away over the final six minutes of the fourth.

Both teams swapped leads over the course of the fourth period, with Northwest holding an 85-82 advantage with just 16 seconds left. Wilbanks' three-point shot, however, was the equalizer that sent both teams into overtime.

Northwest led by three with just under a minute remaining in the extra period, but it was the Lady Tigers that stepped up down the stretch from the charity stripe. Northeast scored nine of its 14 points from the free throw line in overtime.

With a ton of traffic in the lane in the waning seconds, a questionable foul call on a made layup by LaKeiya Lane and ensuing free throw gave Northeast a 98-97 lead with 7.1 ticks left. Northwest was unable to get a shot off on the other end for a possible win. 

Northwest shot 40 percent from the floor and outscored the Northeast bench 59-7 on the night. The Lady Tigers shot only 34 percent for the night but dominated in the paint and capitalized off 21 Lady Ranger turnovers.

Shelbi Buford led Northwest with a career-high 18 points, while Chrissah Shaw came up with 17 points. Three other Lady Rangers finished with double-digit scoring nights, while Averyale Joy notched the team's only double-double with 12 points and 11 assists. Freshman Danielle Ratliff also stood out with seven points and five rebounds in her Northwest debut.

Shelby Wilbanks led Northeast and all scorers with 29 points and 10 rebounds, one of three Lady Tigers with double-doubles.

Northwest will step back into north division play on Tuesday, Jan. 17 hosting Holmes (5-6, 1-1) at 5 p.m. Bryan Fenley will have the call on nwccrangers.com/watch.