SENATOBIA - After a back-and-forth first half, the Northwest Mississippi Community College women's basketball team (14-7, 5-2) played excellent second half defense to power the Rangers to a 70-59 victory over Jones College (17-6, 6-4).
The game marked the long awaited return of sophomore forward Takera Bland. Bland suffered a knee injury in December. Before the injury, Bland started eight of the ten games she played in and was averaging around eight points a game. When Bland plays, she draws attention from defenders on the floor. This allows players like Alorian Story to play more freely.
"Alorian Story is one of the people that really benefits from Bland's skill set because they can't really double team Story now," head coach LaTaryl Williams said. "So now with Bland back with what she brings to the team, her versatility kind of put everything back in place."
Bland played 20 crucial minutes and scored 12 points while shooting 50% from the floor.
The first quarter was a tightly contested battle as the quarter ended with NWCC trailing by only two points.
Although both the Rangers' and the Bobcats' offense picked up in the second quarter, with 24 and 19 points being scored respectively, the game remained a battle. However, with just three seconds left on the clock, Dekyra Mitchell drained one of her signature shots, a contested three-pointer, to give the Rangers a three-point lead going into halftime. Mitchell had 13 points in the first half.
Garnering another double-double before halftime, Story was another key contributor to the team's success.
Throughout the entire game, the Bobcats ran a man-to-man defense which played right into Story's hand.
"Them running man-to-man defense worked so well," Story said. "We haven't seen man-to-man in three games, so seeing man-to-man today, I really liked that."
Getting out scored 13-12 in the third quarter, the second half started off with a dip offensively for Northwest. This was largely due to the fact that NWCC did not do a good job of taking care of the ball, turning it over six times. The Bobcats scored four points off turnovers during the frame.
However, the Rangers were able to take care of the ball much better in the fourth quarter, cutting their turnovers in half and only giving the ball up three times. The Rangers did a phenomenal job of involving all of their players in the fourth quarter. Story, Bland, Mitchell, Layla Hampton, and Jhaniya Davis all contributed to the scoring in the fourth.
Story ended the game with 21 points and 21 rebounds, her first 20-20 game of the year. Mitchell ended the game with 16 points and four assists. With 13 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, Hampton ended the game flirting with a triple-double.
Something that does not show up on the stat sheet is how the players support each other. It doesn't matter if it's coming from a teammate on the floor or on the bench, the support pushes Northwest to victory.
"We depend on the bench for a lot of stuff," Story says. "When I hear the gym riled up, when I hear people yelling, I'm ready to play."
NWCC has a quick turnaround and cannot let this momentum die. Due to the winter storm, several games had to be rescheduled. One of those games was the conference matchup against Northeast Mississippi Community College (9-14, 3-5). The rescheduled game will take place at home on Saturday, February 14 at 2 p.m. in Howard Coliseum. The game will be live streamed on Ranger TV.
Going into the game against Northeast, and the rest of the season, the message remains the same.
"I got you. You got me. We got us," Story said.
To stay up to date on the NWCC women's basketball team, follow the Ranger social media accounts or go to nwccrangers.com.
