SENATOBIA - In front of an electric crowd at Howard Coliseum on Monday evening, the Northwest Lady Rangers took second-place Itawamba to the wire in the regular season home finale, but the Lady Indians' defense denied Northwest a last second shot attempt in a crushing 57-56 loss.

Northwest dropped its seventh straight contest and fell to 4-9 on the season, while ICC jumped to 11-2 overall. With the win, Itawamba also swept the season series against the Lady Rangers.

Northwest jumped out to a 15-6 lead with 2:19 remaining in the first quarter, only to be outscored 5-0 down the stretch by ICC, who rallied for a 15-11 deficit entering the second quarter.

A pair of free throws from Xhiir Burgess allowed Itawamba to tie the contest at 15-15 early in the second period, but a layup and one from Curenity Emerson and a basket from Sha'Kirria Everett pushed the Lady Rangers back to a five-point advantage.

Leading 25-20 with 3:45 remaining before halftime, the Lady Rangers suddenly went cold to close out the first half, as Itawamba used a 14-4 run to take a 34-29 lead into halftime.

Tierra Trotter opened the second half on a strong note for Northwest, sinking a three-pointer off a feed from Morgan Hodum less than 30 seconds in. From there, the back-and-forth affair was on, as neither team led by more than five points the rest of the way.

Down 46-45 at the end of the third quarter, Northwest regained a one-point lead with Ashton Stanley's jumper to open the final 10 minutes of regulation. However, the brief lead would also be the last for the Lady Rangers, as Burgess quickly put ICC back ahead, where they would remain until the final buzzer.

Despite trailing for the rest of the final quarter, the Lady Rangers remained within striking distance throughout and had several chances to regain the lead, including the final possession with 14 seconds. With two seconds left and a one-point deficit, Hodum's jumper was blocked by R'Daztiny Harris, as the Lady Indians held on.

Freshman Kolten Blakeney recorded her second straight double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Tierra Trotter's 16 points was enough to lead all scorers. Trotter also collected seven rebounds, followed by five apiece from Emerson and Stanley.

Burgess fell just shy of a double-double for ICC, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds. Demetria Shephard also earned 10 points in the Lady Indians' victory.

Northwest shot 33 percent from the floor, while the Lady Indians finished with 39 percent shooting. Itawamba also outscored the Lady Rangers 28-12 in bench points.

Next up for the Lady Rangers will be the curtain-closer of the regular season, a 6 P.M. tipoff at East Mississippi on Wednesday, March 24. From there, Northwest will await the reveal of its opponent in the newly-expanded NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.