MOBILE, AL – The season got off to a strong start for the Northwest Mississippi Community College women's basketball team (1-0) as they took down Bishop State Community College (0-1) 60-52 on Saturday afternoon thanks to a dominant performance from Alorian Story who had nearly half of the teams points on the way to her first double-double of the year.
It was the fourth straight year that Head Coach LaTaryl Williams has opened the season with a victory, doing it every year he was been in charge of the program.
The game started out as a back-and-forth battle that the Rangers used to take an early lead at 6-5 and stayed there for much of the opening frame, but a later rally from Bishop State saw the Wildcats close the opening quarter on a 10-3 run, taking an 18-11 lead into the second quarter of action.
Northwest was able to trim into the deficit slowly during the second quarter, using a consistent attack inside to trim the deficit before eventually taking their first lead since 8-7 with free throws that put them up 24-23 in the middle of an 8-0 run that changed the course of the game.
"We knew that they were going to be very aggressive with their traps and press, so we talked about how we wanted to attack their press and get some easy transition buckets out of it," Head Coach LaTaryl Williams said.
They closed the quarter with strength, building the lead up to as much as 32-27 on the way to a 32-29 lead at the break.
The lead continued to grow into the third quarter, eventually peaking at a game high of eleven points when the Rangers eclipsed the 40-point mark at 42-31 on a three-point basket by Dekyra Mitchell, who led the Rangers from beyond the three-point line on four of seven shooting.
Bishop State did close that gap back to three on the heels of the made three ball thanks to a 7-0 run, but the Rangers held strong and never gave up the lead, taking a 46-41 advantage into the final quarter.
In the fourth, it took no time for the Rangers to once more reestablish themselves as the top dog, extending the lead to 52-41 to match the high water mark of the game and put it out of reach thanks to a defense that limited the Wildcats to just eleven points in the final quarter, closing out the win 60-52.
Williams said that the fourth quarter and how they handle it has been a big focus this year and it was good to see the work they have put in pay off.
"That's been something we have been talking about all preseason, all offseason, is just finishing games. That is the one thing we have been doing in practice, taking an extra step and turning up the end of practice intensity so we can translate over to the game and I think the girls did that going down the stretch in that fourth quarter."
Defense was a key to the win for Northwest as the Rangers only allowed Bishop State to shoot 28 percent from the field and only two of sixteen from beyond the three-point line. They also forced 19 turnovers and had 12 steals in the game as a group.
On the other side of the ball, Story was a beast inside, going 9-20 in the game from the field and adding eight free throws to her tally, picking up 15 rebounds on the way to a season opening double-double. Michell was the only other Ranger to score in double figures with 15 points and had four steals to go along with five rebounds in her first game with the Rangers after transferring from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
Layla Hampton added eight points as well and was also strong on the glass with nine rebounds, adding four assists in her 37 minutes of play.
The Rangers aren't on the road long, as this is a one and done road trip for NWCC and they will be back in the home confines of Howard Coliseum on Tuesday night when they take on Dyersburg State Community College at 5:30 pm. A win against the Eagles would make it five straight seasons that Northwest has started the season 2-0.
You can watch the game beginning at 5:20 pm at nwccrangers.com/watch or you can follow along with the Rangers on any of their social media accounts.
