SENATOBIA – Chrissah Shaw scored a career-high 26 points and Abbreanna Miller posted her second straight double-double, but it took a layup from Mercades Ward with 22 seconds left for Northwest to seal an 80-79 victory over ASU Mid-South Thursday night at Howard Coliseum. 

Northwest improved to 9-6 overall with its third consecutive come-from-behind win in the game's final seconds, all Ward game-winners, and improved to 14-2 all-time against ASU Mid-South. The Lady Greyhounds fell to 8-9 with the loss.

The Lady Rangers jumped out to a big 23-12 lead in the opening quarter before ASU Mid-South outscored Northwest by 16 to take a 43-38 lead at half.

Alesha Penister was a one-woman wrecking crew for the Lady Greyhounds, scoring 18 first-half points to help the visitors push back in front. ASU Mid-South had 14 offensive rebounds and just two turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

Tied at 49-49 late third quarter, an 8-0 spurt for Northwest – all eight from Ciara Pettis and Shaw – allowed Northwest to take a 63-56 lead after three quarters. 

The Lady Ranger lead was 68-56 with nine minutes left to play on a 3-pointer from Shaw and layup from Miller before a final push from ASU Mid-South.

A huge 16-4 run over a five-minute stretch allowed the Lady Greyhounds to retake the lead momentarily, 79-78, on Teiangula Boston's layup with 29 seconds left.

Northwest elected not to call a timeout and immediately came back down the floor with Ward's layup with 22 seconds left to go ahead 80-79.

After advancing the ball to mid-court on a timeout, ASU Mid-South had a final chance to tie or win the game, but Sable Greer's 3-point attempt on the right wing rimmed out as time expired.

Shaw scored 17 of her career-high 26 points in the second half and was followed by 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks from Miller, 11 points from Tamaria Thomas and eight points, nine rebounds and six assists from Pettis. Ward had 14 dimes for a second straight game.

Penister finished with 26 for ASU Mid-South, but was held to only eight in the second half, while Boston recorded a double-double.

Northwest outshot the Lady Greyhounds 41-31 percent, owned the edge on the glass and shot a season-high 91 percent (19-of-21) from the charity stripe.

Winners of four straight, Northwest will play host to north division rival Itawamba (9-5, 3-2) on Monday at Howard Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. on nwccrangers.com/watch.