FULTON – Trailing by 15 at halftime, Northwest used strong showings from Mallory Russell and Kayla Bradley to stage a second half rally, but the Lady Rangers were unable to complete the comeback at the end, falling 62-61 to Itawamba on Thursday evening.

Northwest fell to 7-10 overall and 2-5 in division competition with the loss. Itawamba moved to 15-2 and remained unbeaten in the north division at 7-0.

Northwest led three times in the opening quarter, twice by four after a three-pointer by Lindsay Hall and a layup from Bradley. 

Up 11-7 with less than three minutes to go in the first quarter, the Lady Rangers watched their lead disappear into a 9-0 run that sent the Lady Indians into the second quarter with a 16-11 advantage.

Trailing by six with 2:44 left in the first half, Northwest gave up another ICC run that was capped off by Tabreea Gandy's buzzer-beating three, sending the Lady Rangers into the locker room down 38-23.

Itawamba twice attained its largest lead of the contest at 17 in the opening minutes of the second half, before Russell began to take over. With only two points in the first half, Russell hit four of the first five shots from the floor in the third quarter, bringing the Lady Rangers within nine, 44-35.

After ICC went up by 12 to end the third quarter, Bradley began to catch fire from beyond the arc, dropping three of the Lady Rangers' four made three-pointers in the fourth quarter to pull Northwest within one with 53 seconds to go.

Northwest would get an opportunity for the game-winning shot after an offensive foul resulted in an Itawamba turnover with 31 seconds to go. Following a quick timeout with eight seconds to go, the Lady Rangers set up a look inside but Bradley's layup missed the mark, as ICC denied Northwest the road upset.

The fourth quarter belonged to Northwest, as the Lady Rangers outscored Itawamba 20-9 down the stretch. Northwest also shot 36 percent from the floor and 38 percent from three-point range in the second half.

Itawamba outscored the Lady Rangers 28-5 in bench points, with sophomore guard Sydney Liddell scoring all five.

Bradley led all scorers with 22 points, while Russell finished with a career night of 15 points and 14 rebounds, her second career double-double.

Gandy finished with 17 points to lead Itawamba as Shaniyah Buford added 15 in the win.

Northwest will return to the friendly confines of Howard Coliseum on Monday, Feb. 4 against Coahoma. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. with live video and live stats provided through nwccrangers.com.