SENATOBIA – The Northwest Lady Rangers split a pair of games on Thursday and Friday during its annual Tri-States Classic at Howard Coliseum, falling 71-69 to Mineral Area before a 59-55 bounce back win over Lawson State.

Northwest moved to 2-3 on the season with the split and will have a quick turnaround on Monday, Nov. 20 with a neutral site game against Baton Rouge in Moorhead.

In Thursday's opener, the Lady Rangers led MAC by as many as nine and led after each of the first three quarters.

Northwest went ice cold in the fourth, however, shooting just 20 percent (4-for-20), while Holly Forbes and the Lady Cards outscored the Lady Rangers 17-10 to pull off a come-from-behind win.

Trailing by two with time winding down, Ciara Pettis' potential game-tying jumper slowly rolled off the front rim that would've forced overtime as time expired.

Forbes willed MAC to the win with a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, followed by three other Lady Cards in double figures. Mercades Ward, Chrissah Shaw, Brooke Walker and Kayla Bradley all scored in double digits for Northwest.

Both Northwest and Lawson State got off to a slow start in Friday's contest, with the score 7-6 Lady Cougars after one.

Ward scored 11 of her career-high 26 in the second quarter in which Northwest outscored Lawson State 22-12 to take a 28-19 lead at the half.

The lead was 16 with 4:56 left in the third before a fourth quarter comeback effort for Lawson State.

The Lady Cougars went on a 16-4 run to pull within 52-51 with 3:03 to play before Ward and Tamaria Thomas combined for the final nine points for Northwest to fend off Lawson State 59-55.

Ward had 26 to lead all scorers, followed by eight from Pettis and seven points and 13 rebounds from Thomas.

Both teams shot just 30 percent for the game, while Lawson State's bench outscored Northwest 31-13.