SENATOBIA - Sophomore guard Tierra Trotter tied her season-high of 24 points and added five steals and five assists, as Northwest survived a 73-64 outing against Holmes on Monday evening.

Trotter's output led all Northwest scorers, while I'Yana Ragin and Maura Nunley totaled 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Both teams spent the first quarter trading leads, with neither team able to truly pull away. The largest lead of the quarter came with 2:08 to go, as Claire Leak found Maura Nunley for an open three-pointer, stretching the Lady Rangers' margin to seven, 20-13.

Northwest led 22-18 entering the second quarter and eventually built a 12-point advantage with just over two minutes remaining in the first half. The Lady Rangers would finish strong until the final first half buzzer, taking a 38-28 lead into the locker room.

Running off a strong start to the second half, Northwest led by double figures for nearly all of the third quarter, which included a game-high 17-point advantage.

Just when it seemed that the Lady Rangers would run away with the game over the final 10 minutes, Holmes worked its way back into the contest, taking advantage of miscues from Northwest. Trailing 58-42 entering the fourth, the Lady Bulldogs would open the quarter on a mini 6-0 run to trim the deficit back down to 10.

A quick layup from Trotter ended the Lady Rangers' scoring drought and brought the lead back to a 12-point 61-49 advantage, only for Holmes to slice deeper into the deficit. A three-pointer from Lanie Potter brought the Lady Bulldogs back under 10 and back-to-back layups from Shanbriah Rule eventually brought Holmes within six, 65-49, with 4:30 left to go.

Northwest would get some help off consecutive fastbreak baskets from Cailey Walker, but Holmes refused to back down, pulling back within seven with less than two minutes left. Neither team was able to score for a full minute as the clock ticked under 30 seconds, but Trotter's layup put the game on ice with 24 seconds to go.

Northwest shot 46 percent from the floor in the victory, while finishing 24 percent from beyond the arc. Both teams finished near even in free throw shooting, with Holmes holding a narrow 63 to 62 percent margin.

Holmes bested the Lady Rangers in total rebounds (46-34) and second chance points (15-9), but Northwest outperformed the Lady Bulldogs 48-30 in the paint. The Lady Rangers also got 20 points off the bench, with Walker and Sha'kirria Everett combining for 14 of those points.

Kolten Blakeney was limited to four points, but led the Lady Rangers in the rebound category, finishing with six on the evening. Leak also came away with five off the bench.

Rule was the leading scorer for Holmes, earning 25 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Sha'Toria Vigne fell just shy of a double-double, earning 14 points and nine boards, while Jarie Brice also came close with 11 points and eight rebounds.

With the win, Northwest improved to 7-4 overall and 1-1 in the MACCC competition. Holmes dropped to 1-10 on the season and 0-2 within the conference.

Northwest will resume play in the new year, traveling to MACCC powerhouse and third-ranked Jones College on Thursday, January 6. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 P.M. in Ellisville.