SENATOBIA – It was a strong performance at home for the Northwest Mississippi Community College women's basketball team as they moved to 2-0 on the season with a 77-61 win over Dyersburg State Community College (1-1) on Tuesday night at Howard Coliseum, powering their way to a victory with a steady defensive presence that helped them overcome a three point deficit at the half.
The team was much more stout in the second half, holding Dyersburg to just four points in the third quarter which really turned the momentum of the game around, and Head Coach LaTaryl Williams was proud of the roster's response.
"We came out in the second half and applied a little pressure with our full court press and sped them up a bit to get them out of their comfort zone, so that gave us a spark in the second half."
The game got off to a strong start for the Rangers, bursting out to a 6-2 lead early and holding that with five minutes to go and pushing the lead to 14-8 to force a timeout by the Eagles. The lead hit double figures on a jumper from Ahmari Lockhart which pushed the lead to 21-12, and the Rangers would take a 21-14 lead into the second quarter.
Dyersburg State trimmed the lead down to just five out of the break, but the Rangers almost immediately regained the advantage thanks to a 6-0 run that pushed it back to a 31-18 lead.
That was the moment the game went on its head for Northwest as the Eagles found their shot from deep and went on a 13-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 32-31 with two minutes left in the first half and used that to take a 35-32 lead into the locker rooms.
Northwest didn't wait long to establish themselves again coming out in the second half thanks to a 10-0 run that changed the momentum and the feel of the game completely, very much in part to the great start from Alorian Story inside and some accurate three-point shooting from Dekyra Mitchell.
Up 42-35, the Rangers only grew the lead from there to 16 points at 53-37 with only a buzzer beating basket by the Eagles keeping some momentum on the side of the visitors as they struggled with intense defensive pressure from Northwest.
Williams said he was proud of his team's response after a first half where they didn't execute their gameplan from start to finish.
"We just talked about that at the end of the game, how they responded to that first half of play. [Dyersburg] kind of ran the stuff they wanted to run and our gameplan was to get them out of their rhythms. I felt we responded well in the second half and the start of the third quarter, to hold them to four points in that quarter," he said.
Dyersburg would take that and cut the lead down to ten on an 8-2 run to begin the fourth quarter but a 15-0 run by NWCC thanks to their full court press getting them multiple steals and fast break chances had them leading by 25 points before the visitors could find any way to recover their balance as the lead ballooned to 70-45 with five minutes to go.
The Rangers really fed off of the crowd and the environment was something that really helped to keep the energy high.
"We feed off the crowd," sophomore guard Layla Hampton said. "It makes us feel good and play better when they get hyped."
That would close out the game as Northwest cruised the rest of the way to a 77-59 win at home to double their win total to 2-0 to kick off the season.
Four players finished in double figures for Northwest led by 16 points from both Mitchell and Story, and they were followed by 11-point games from Hampton and Takera Bland.
Both Hampton and Mitchell had five steals on a night when the Rangers picked up 20 steals as a team, most of which came in the second half when they clamped down on the Eagles with their full court press.
Bland led the team in rebounds with eight and also had an impressive night with three blocks. Bland also had four assists and was tied with Hampton for the team lead in that category.
The Rangers will be back in action on Thursday afternoon when they travel to West Memphis, Arkansas for a road test against Arkansas State University Mid-South, facing a Greyhounds team that is 1-1 to start the season and coming off of a 75-63 win over Albany Technical College.
"We have a quick turnaround, so we are just going to watch some film, look at some things to correct from tonight, watch some film from Mid-South and get ourselves ready for them on Thursday."
More information on the game including streaming information can be found at nwccrangers.com or you can keep up with Northwest athletics by following on social media.
