SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College women's basketball team picked up three players on the Region 23 All-Tournament team after winning the title with a 60-55 win over Pearl River Community College on Friday evening in Poplarville.
The team was led by sophomore Takera Bland who was named the Region 23 Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by fellow sophomores Alorian Story and Layla Hampton.
Bland was a key piece for the Rangers in both their semifinal and championship games, scoring 17 points in both and averaged 12.3 points through the three games she played in. The Memphis, Tennessee native also had 31 rebounds in the tournament, including a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double in the championship.
A big weekend for Story was also in play as the leading rebounder in the MACCC was at it again all through the postseason, picking up another pair of double doubles, and finishing just shy of three of them in the tournament.
Despite playing with a shoulder injury, the Ripley, Mississippi native scored 42 points over the three games, including a 20-point, 10-rebound performance in the semifinal win over Itawamba Community College.
Story never shot less than 50 percent from the field, going 16-26 from the field and adding a 10-13 stretch from the foul line.
Closing out the All-Tournament selections for NWCC was Layla Hampton, who was the second leading scorer for NWCC in the tournament, going for 44 points in the three-game stretch, including a 20-point game in the quarterfinals against Jones College where she scored 15 of the teams 20 first half points.
Hampton also averaged five rebounds a game and just over four assists per game and was a rock at the foul line, going 14-18 during the tournament including a 7-10 game in the championship.
Northwest had a difficult decision to make in who made the All-Tournament Team, as there was a fourth member who was also deserving of a spot. Dekyra Mitchell was the leading scorer for the Rangers with 49 points in the postseason, including 21 against Itawamba and 19 against Jones. She had a double-double in the Rangers quarterfinal with ten rebounds, finishing the week with 21-rebounds and seven assists.
The Rangers are still waiting for All-Conference awards to be announced and are expecting to have one or two potential All-American's. They will be advancing to the NJCAA National Tournament in Lake Charles, Louisiana beginning on March 24th at McNeese State University.
Keep up with the Rangers at nwccrangers.com or by following Northwest on social media.
