PEARL – Joined by family, friends and past Northwest inductees, former Lady Ranger basketball great Larenda Shantell Atkins was inducted into the Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday night at the Muse Center on the Rankin County campus of Hinds Community College.

Atkins became Northwest's first female and 16th all-time inductee to be enshrined into the Sports Hall of Fame.

One of the most decorated women's basketball players to ever put on a Lady Ranger uniform, Atkins played the 1993-94 and 94-95 seasons under Hall of Famer Don Edwards.

Atkins helped Northwest to a combined 44-13 record (18-6 in the MACJC) and a state and north division championship as a sophomore. She led the Lady Rangers in scoring in each of her two seasons at 12.0 and 16.7 points per game.

Her name still ranks in the Top 10 at Northwest in 15 different statistical categories for a career, including first all-time in assists (491) and steals (328), second in 3-point field goal percentage (.367), third in field goal percentage (.529), fifth in free throw percentage (.648), sixth in field goals made (306) and seventh in career scoring with 820 points.

The most notable statistic on Atkins was on Dec. 8, 1994, when she recorded the school's first-ever quadruple-double against Mississippi Delta in a 91-52 win. Atkins scored 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, made 10 steals and dished out 10 assists. She went on to collect several more quadruple-doubles during the 1994-95 season.
 
Atkins briefly continued her playing career at LeMoyne-Owen College before giving birth to the first of three children that cut her career short.
 
Atkins currently resides in her hometown of Earle, Ark., where she works as a branch office manager for Edward Jones. She has three children, ranging in ages 17 to 22.