SENATOBIA – Sophomore forward Mallory Russell made the most of her final home contest at Howard Coliseum on Monday night, earning a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double to help lift Northwest to an 85-79 victory against Holmes.

Russell's 17 points also marked a new career-high for the Ingomar native as Northwest improved to 15-8 overall, finishing the regular season at 7-5 in the MACJC North.

Northwest broke out for a massive first quarter lead, with the sophomores scoring the Lady Rangers' first 18 points of the contest. The Lady Rangers led 10-0 before Holmes broke the scoring drought with a Gabrielle Bunch layup at the 6:03 mark.

Zanaiyah Daniel helped Northwest take its largest lead of the contest with less than a minute left in the first quarter, sinking a three-pointer to put the Lady Rangers ahead by 24 points at 29-5.

Although Holmes picked up the pace in the second quarter, the Lady Rangers led by 15 or more for most of the first half. A layup and one from Bunch with 1:03 left to go brought the Lady Bulldogs within 13, but Lindsay Hall's trey and a Taylor Fletcher free throw pushed the lead back to 17 points at halftime, 46-29.

Hall and Fleming opened the second half with a pair of three-pointers to extend the Lady Rangers' advantage to 22 points, but a three on the opposite end from Bunch dipped the lead back under 20.

Northwest maintained a double-digit lead for the entire third quarter but Holmes continued to hang around, slowly carving into the deficit every chance possible. After Daniel and Bunch traded a pair of three-pointers apiece with a minute remaining in the quarter, the Lady Bulldogs once again pulled within 12 points and entered the fourth quarter trailing 66-54.

A 70-57 Northwest lead soon gave way to a 10-1 run from Holmes that was capped off by a Morgan Williams' three-pointer, allowing the Lady Bulldogs to cut the deficit to four, 71-67. 

Despite gaining a 13-point advantage with a 9-0 scoring run, Northwest fell victim to another significant run from Holmes as the Lady Bulldogs pulled within five, 82-77, with 31 seconds to go. That would be as close as Holmes would come down the stretch though, as Morgan Hodum hit a pair of free throws followed by another from Mosby to pull out the 85-79 win.

Northwest was plagued by a career-defining effort from Bunch, who scored 39 of Holmes' 79 points while adding seven rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists. Jordyn Manning provided 12 points for the Lady Bulldogs with Brysa Maxwell earning 11 rebounds.

Russell and Mosby led the sophomore-driven effort for Northwest, with Mosby earning 13 points on five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Hall also finished with nine points, all from beyond the arc, while Sykes fell just short of a double-double with eight points and eight boards.

Additionally, Daniel added 14 points for the Lady Rangers with three rebounds and a pair of assists, leading a 32-point scoring effort from the Northwest bench.

Northwest shot 48 percent from the floor on the evening and 53 percent from three-point range for the contest, but shot 71 percent from beyond the arc in the first quarter.

Northwest will await the outcome of Thursday's games to determine its first round opponent in next week's MACJC Tournament. With East Mississippi's victory against Itawamba, the Lady Lions officially clinched the MACJC North championship, thus earning the right to host this year's tournament in Scooba.

Stay tuned to nwccrangers.com and Twitter (@NWCC_Rangers) for further information on opponents, as well as streaming and live stats links.