SENATOBIA - Coming off an unintentional two week break due to the winter storm, Northwest Mississippi Community College women's basketball (13-6, 4-1) outlasted Pearl River (13-5, 6-1) by a score of 71-70 in a thrilling overtime victory.
The Rangers would start the game with two turnovers. This allowed the Wildcats to score the first seven points and eventually get out to an early 10 point lead. NWCC's offense had a difficult time getting started, and the lead grew to 13 points in the second quarter.
However, Northwest closed out the half on an 8-0 run that cut the lead to five points.
This momentum carried on into the second half with the Rangers going on a 13-0 run in the first five minutes of the third quarter. After cutting the lead down to just two points, the Wildcats were able to gain momentum going into the start of the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter saw both teams carry the momentum at various times. After PRCC player Cy'nara Robinson hit the game tying layup with one second to go, the game was sent to overtime tied at 58.
Going into overtime the goal was simply to keep the momentum.
"The message was to keep pushing, keep grinding, keep doing what we are supposed to do so we can win," sophomore Shiloh Hatch said.
Pearl River was able to jump out into an early five point lead in the first minute of overtime, but Northwest went on to a 6-0 run of their own to take a one point advantage. Overtime proceeded to be a back and forth affair.
With 11 seconds to go, Atesa Johnson hit a layup to give PRCC the lead. With time running out and only one second on the clock, a foul was called on Cy'nara Robinson to send Alorian Story to the free throw line to take two shots. Story was ice cold at the line and sank the free throws to give the Rangers the win.
"For them to come back from being down by 15, then took the lead, and then for them to come back again and win in overtime, it just showed the resilience of this team," head coach LaTaryl Williams said.
Four of the five starters for the Rangers ended the night with at least 10 points.
Sophomore Layla Hampton played a complete game, finishing the game with 13 points, a career-high 10 assists, and eight rebounds. This led to Hampton's first career double-double. Dekyra Mitchell led all scorers with 23 points, and Story once again had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Due to her dominance in the paint, teams have begun to hound Story, so NWCC will look for other outlets. In the game against Pearl River, Hatch proved to be this outlet. Making several key layups in the paint, Hatch had a career-high 15 points in the contest.
"I know at the beginning of the game I started off a little rusty, but I sucked it up and took my time to make some layups," Hatch said.
The team will look to carry this momentum into their next game on the road Monday, February 3 against the Meridian Eagles (17-4, 5-2).
"In this league it's never easy," said Coach Williams. "We just tell our girls that each game we have to approach like a playoff game."
To stay up to date on the NWCC women's basketball team, follow the Ranger social media accounts or go to nwccrangers.com.
