SENATOBIA - Northwest Mississippi Community College women's basketball team (19-8, 10-3) earned a commanding 60-47 victory over East Central Community College (9-15, 5-8) on Sophomore Night in Howard Coliseum.
The Rangers had a slow start to the game, allowing East Central to open the game with a 9-2 run. This prompted Head Coach LaTaryl Williams to call a pivotal timeout with 5:45 left in the first quarter. NWCC would come out of the timeout not allowing ECCC to score the rest of the quarter and going on a 11-0 run. Due to their strong end of the first quarter, Northwest led 13-9.
The second quarter of the contest was a battle with the score being tied three times and the lead changing five times. Northwest outscored East Central in the paint 8-4, but East Central was able to get more second chance points, outscoring Northwest 5-3. Three pointers from the Warriors saw them eyeing a three point lead going into halftime. However, a layup with two seconds left in the half from sophomore Layla Hampton made the score 28-27 cutting the lead down to only one.
Although the first half was closely contested, the Rangers dominated the second half both defensively and offensively. Northwest only allowed East Central to score 19 points in the second half while scoring 33 points of their own.
With five minutes to go in the third quarter, the score was tied at 32 a piece. However, due to a timely three point shot from sophomore Dekyra Mitchell, clutch free throws from sophomore Alorian Story and Takera Bland, and quintessential layups from Story, the Rangers went on a 11-6 in the last five minutes of the quarter.
The fourth quarter opened with two Mitchell three pointers to extend the lead to nine points. Another key factor in NWCC's exceptional fourth quarter performance was their ability to capitalize off of ECCC turnovers, scoring five points off of Warrior turnovers. Northwest never looked back in the fourth quarter, never allowing East Central to tie the game or take the lead again.
Due to heightened emotions, sophomore night can sometimes be tricky for teams to navigate. However, that was not the case for the Rangers.
"We just talked about regardless of who our opponent is, we are going to play the same way," Coach Willams said. "Regardless of if [our opponent] is first place or last place, we have got to play our ball. We have got to play the Ranger style of basketball."
The Northwest sophomores showed how valuable they are to the team offensively with Bland, Mitchell, and Story all scoring in double figures with 11, 14, and 19 points respectively. The sophomores excelled defensively as well with Story garnering 14 rebounds and Bland garnering nine.
There are very few people who bring the same energy on both ends of the floor as Hampton, and this game was no different. Hampton filled up the stat sheet with nine points, five rebounds, six assists, and seven steals.
With this victory, Northwest has achieved one of their goals for the season, hosting a playoff game. NWCC will have to wait a little while longer to see if they get a first-round bye in the playoffs.
"We just have got to take care of our business and then see what else happens and believe," Coach Williams said. "It means a lot to us because we've been working all season to get a home playoff game."
This game marks Coach Williams 51st win at Northwest and 95th career win overall.
For the last game of the regular season, the Rangers (19-8, 10-3) will hit the road to take on the Mississippi Delta Trojans (8-14, 2-11) in Moorhead next Monday, March 2 at 5:30 p.m.
To stay up to date on the NWCC women's basketball team, follow the Ranger social media accounts or go to nwccrangers.com.
