SCOOBA – Sophomore Kayla Freeman went off for 19 Northwest points but the Lady Rangers couldn't hold on to a five-point advantage, falling to 10th-ranked Jones College 71-62 in the first round of the MACJC Tournament on Tuesday afternoon.

Northwest fell to 15-9 overall but despite being eliminated from the conference tournament, the Lady Rangers will get another shot at postseason competition next week in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament in Clinton. Matchups for that tournament will be released later this week.

Jones came rushing out of the gate early as a Destiny Haymer three-pointer put the Lady Bobcats up 7-2 less than three minutes into the opening quarter. 

Northwest showed no signs of backing down against the Lady Bobcats' Division I-bound starting five though, as the Lady Rangers roared back with a Mallory Russell three-pointer and an Ariel Tunstall jumper to gain an 8-7 lead.

Trailing 11-8 after another three from Haymer, Taylor Fletcher sparked an 11-0 run with a made three-point shot of her own, which were followed by a pair of made threes from Claire Fleming to help guide Northwest to a 19-11 lead.

Northwest led 21-16 entering the second quarter but that's when the Lady Rangers went cold at the wrong time, going six and a half minutes without scoring as Jones built a 10-point lead, 31-21.

A single free throw from Freeman broke the Lady Rangers' offensive drought with 3:29 remaining before halftime but Jones outscored Northwest 19-5 over the course of the quarter to take a 35-26 lead into the locker room.

Northwest fell behind by 12 with 3:52 remaining in the third quarter, only to strike back with a 9-3 run to close the gap to six at 48-42. LaMiracle Sims would help Jones back to an eight-point lead but a three from Fleming and a layup from Russell kept the Lady Rangers within five, 52-47, as the quarter came to a close.

Although Jones once again managed to regain a 10-point advantage midway through the fourth, a pair of fastbreak baskets from Fletcher and Lindsay Hall drew the Lady Rangers back within six points with 3:49 remaining.

A layup from Freeman with 2:22 to go cut the Jones lead down to 64-60, but Jones responded with a 7-0 run over the final two minutes that effectively sealed the win for the Lady Bobcats.

Nearly half of Freeman's points came from the charity stripe where she finished 9-of-12, while also joining Russell and Tamarah Sykes with five rebounds apiece.

Fleming added nine points (all from three-point range) as Russell contributed seven points and three blocks.

Four Lady Bobcat starters reached double figures, led by 19 and 18 point-efforts from Jones and Haymer, respectively. Sims also posted 12 points and 18 rebounds while Jatyjia Jones added 10 points and 13 boards.

Northwest was outrebounded 55-42 but the Lady Rangers' bench did earn 20 points against seven from Jones.

Matchups, streaming links and live stats availability for next week's NJCAA Region 23 Tournament will be posted as they are announced at nwccrangers.com.