SENATOBIA - Despite impressive performances from a trio of Northwest freshmen, East Mississippi capitalized on the Lady Rangers' shooting struggles to pull away for a 78-53 victory at Howard Coliseum on Thursday evening.

Northwest opened the season at 0-1 overall, while EMCC improved to 1-0 and defeated the Lady Rangers for the sixth time in the last seven meetings.

After Shakira Wilson sank a three to put the Lady Lions ahead 9-8 with four minutes to go in the first period, Northwest used a Curenity Emerson layup and back-to-back baskets from Kolten Blakeney to pull ahead 14-9, for what would become the largest lead of the night for the Lady Rangers.

I'Yana Ragin's layup early in the second period matched the largest lead for Northwest, but the Lady Rangers would go over five minutes without a basket as East Mississippi raced out to a 24-16 advantage late in the first half.

Layups from Markiema Lancaster and Ja'Mia Hollings put EMCC ahead by 11 as the first half drew to a close, but Blakeney's jumper with 43 seconds left kept the halftime deficit under double digits at 30-21.

Leading 45-37 with just under three minutes remaining in the third period, the Lady Lions closed out the quarter on a 10-0 run to make it an 18-point lead entering the final 10 minutes. Northwest was simply unable to recover as the deficit grew to its largest margin of 29 points with four minutes to go.

Northwest was outscored 19-7 in the second period and surrendered 48 second half points. The Lady Rangers shot 40 percent from the floor through the contest, but went 2-for-15 and 13 percent in the second period.

Northwest was also held scoreless from beyond the arc on six attempts, marking the first time the Lady Rangers failed to score from three-point range since a 70-51 loss to Itawamba on March 7, 2013.

Even with the loss, there were still several bright spots from the Lady Rangers' freshman-heavy roster. Three players scored in double figures, led by 14 points and nine rebounds from Blakeney. Emerson posted 11 points in her debut, followed by 10 from Tierra Trotter.

Additionally, Ragin provided four rebounds in a starting performance and lone sophomore Morgan Hodum led with four assists.

East Mississippi shot 46 percent from the floor and went 32 percent from three-point range. Jenessa Souza led the Lady Lions with 14 points, followed by 12 from Wilson and 10 from DenAsia Mitchell. Returning sophomore Ja'Mia Hollings also fell shy of a double-double, earning 13 rebounds and nine points.

Northwest will set its sights on the win column on Monday, January 25 with a road tilt at Itawamba. Tipoff from Fulton is slated for 5:30 p.m. and will be carried live on letsgoicctv.com/red.