BOONEVILLE - Trailing 19-12 after one quarter of play, Northwest found itself in a back-and-forth battle against Northeast, only to pull away late in the fourth and claim an 80-71 victory on Thursday evening.
Northwest improved to 9-5 on the season and picked up its second consecutive conference victory, moving to 3-2 against MACCC opponents. Northeast fell to 3-11 overall and 1-4 in conference play.
Back-to-back layups put Northeast ahead 4-0 to start the contest, only for
Maura Nunley to respond with a made free throw and a three-point basket, tying the game at 4-4 with 7:33 left. However, the Lady Tigers would continue to dominate the opening quarter, breaking off an 12-2 scoring run that put the Lady Rangers in a 19-8 hole.
Northwest would trim the deficit to seven to close out the first quarter, thanks to a free throw from
I'Yana Ragin and another three-pointer from Nunley. Ragin would also open the second period with a three of her own, closing the gap to a four-point, 19-15 deficit.
Northwest eventually took its first lead on a
Tierra Trotter layup with 6:11 to go in the first half, only for the Lady Tigers to go back up by three on the next two possessions. From there, Northeast pushed its lead back to eight points with 1:55 left, but were met once again with a 9-4 run from the Lady Rangers that brought Northwest within three at halftime, 37-34.
Six lead changes and three ties told the story of the third quarter, as neither team was able to pull out a comfortable lead. Northwest led by as many as five points on three different occasions, while the Lady Tigers took their largest lead of four on a jumper from Brittney Oswalt late in the period.
Trailing 64-61 with seven minutes to go, Trotter's three helped tie the game and a layup from
Kolten Blakeney at the 4:25 mark helped the Lady Rangers take the lead for good. Northwest would increase its advantage to five or more points over the final 1:47 of regulation, helping the Lady Rangers to the crucial road victory.
Northwest shot 37 percent from the floor compared to 42 percent from Northeast, but the Lady Rangers shot 47 percent over the course of the second half. Northwest also finished 77 percent from the free throw line and outscored the Lady Tigers 29-5 in points off turnovers.
Trotter's 26-point evening led all scorers, while Blakeney and Ragin came away with 17 points apiece. Ragin also added six rebounds and six assists to her stats total, while Blakeney swatted three shot attempts.
Nunley also scored 12 points on the evening, mostly coming from three-point range, while also adding four steals on the evening.
Ella Mask scored 20 points to lead Northeast, followed by 14 points from Calysia Phillips. Oswalt scored 11 points and nine rebounds to finish shy of a double-double, while Sanaa Finley also scoed 11 points off the bench.
Next up for Northwest is a home contest against Pearl River on Tuesday, January 18. The Lady Rangers lead Pearl River 7-6 all-time in limited action, with the last meeting resulting in a 63-60 victory for Northwest on November 7, 2019.
Tipoff for Tuesday's meeting with the Lady Wildcats is slated for 5:30 P.M. at Howard Coliseum.Â
