CLINTON – Roughly 24 hours after seeing Northwest upset No. 18 Northeast in the men's bracket of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament, the Lady Rangers matched the excitement with a thrilling 56-53 stunner against conference champion East Mississippi on Wednesday afternoon.

With the win, Northwest avenged two regular season losses to EMCC while improving to 16-9 overall. The Lady Lions dropped to 24-3 with the loss.

East Mississippi got off to the fast start with an 8-0 lead but back-to-back three-pointers from Lindsay Hall helped guide the Lady Rangers back within one, 9-8, with 2:42 left in the opening quarter.

Although the lead was trimmed to one, a Taylor Lattimore basket gave EMCC an 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, simultaneously sparking a solid second quarter start that saw Northwest fall behind by eight.

Down 18-10 with 7:13 remaining in the first half, Hall and Mallory Russell used a trio of successful free throws prior to a fastbreak layup from Kayla Freeman to help pull the Lady Rangers within three, 18-15.

Freshman Zanaiyah Daniel's jumper with 1:48 left in the first half pulled Northwest within one at 20-19, but EMCC got a pair of layups from Lattimore and Tye Metcalf to regain a five-point margin with 35 seconds to go.

Northwest would get the last laugh of the first half however, as Daniel drained a three-pointer with 21 seconds left to send the Lady Rangers to the locker room down by two, 24-22.

Metcalf opened the second half with a three for EMCC but Ariel Tunstall countered with a three-pointer of her own, followed by a jumper that propelled Northwest to its first lead of 28-27 at the 6:48 mark of the third quarter.

Although back-to-back baskets from Metcalf and Ja'Mia Hollings put East Mississippi back ahead by three, Russell made sure the lead was short-lived by hitting a pair of layups along with one from Kayla Freeman, as Northwest took a 38-33 lead with two minutes and change remaining in the third.

Lattimore cut the Lady Rangers' lead back down to two points with less than a minute to go, but Daniel sank a three to end the quarter and put Northwest up 41-36.

Both teams put on a close, classic postseason battle throughout the fourth quarter with neither team leading by more than five points. Russell's jumper at the 7:18 mark gave the Lady Rangers their largest lead of the fourth quarter, but a Metcalf jumper and two free throws on the other end of the floor allowed EMCC to regain a 46-45 advantage.

From there, the game went back and forth the rest of the way as Claire Fleming and EMCC's Hollings traded buckets, followed by a jumper from Russell at the 2:20 mark that put Northwest back ahead at 49-48.

Hollings' layup helped give EMCC a narrow one-point margin with 1:25 left but Daniel hit another clutch three with less than a minute remaining to make it a 52-50 lead for Northwest.

Aamiya Rush tied it at 52 for the Lady Lions on the next possession with a layup, only to see the Lady Rangers regain a 54-52 advantage off Freeman's layup with 13 seconds left in regulation.

Both teams turned the ball over on separate possessions in the final 12 seconds but a missed layup and a missed free throw from East Mississippi gave the Lady Rangers the ball with two seconds to go. From there, a Hollings foul sent Morgan Hodum to the line for two successful free throws that effectively sealed the upset for Northwest.

Freeman's 12 points led Northwest and a pair of 11-point outputs from Russell and Daniel helped ward off a 20-point effort from EMCC's Metcalf and a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double from Hollings.

Russell also led the Lady Rangers in rebounds with seven boards, all on defense.

East Mississippi outpaced Northwest in second chance points (18-3), points off turnovers (13-5) and points in the paint (32-20), but the Lady Rangers outperformed East Mississippi in bench points, with Daniel accounting for 11 of the Lady Rangers' 23 points.

Northwest shot 47 percent from the floor and 67 percent from beyond the arc. In contrast, East Mississippi finished 35 percent from the floor and just 1-14 from three-point range (7%).

With the win, the Lady Rangers advance into the NJCAA Region 23 semifinals on Thursday evening against Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Lady Bulldogs edged Northwest 63-59 in Novemeber and earned an earlier victory against Itawamba in the first round on Wednesday afternoon.

Tipoff for Thursday's contest is set for 5 p.m. at A.E. Wood Coliseum in Clinton. Links for live stats and broadcasts can be found under the women's basketball 'Schedule' tab at nwccrangers.com.