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Northeast Mississippi Community College sophomore guard Ranisha Williams (11) goes for the steal against Itawamba’s Vetorra Cole in the Lady Tigers 84-67 win over the Lady Indians at Bonner Arnold Coliseum in Booneville Monday, February 8.
February 8, 2010
NORTHEAST SPLITS WITH ITAWAMBA;
LADY TIGERS SNAP FIVE-GAME SKID AGAINST LADY INDIANS
Booneville, Miss.--Northeast Mississippi Community College women’s basketball snapped a five-game slide against rival Itawamba Community College as the Lady Tigers came back from a halftime defecit with a 50-point second half.
Ricky Ford’s Lady Tigers knocked off the Lady Indians 84-67 in front of a pack Bonner Arnold Coliseum as Northeast overcame a 35-34 disadvantage and improved their record to 4-6 in the North Division.
Northeast’s last win against Itawamba came in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges’ (MACJC) State Tournament in Wesson on February 28, 2007 when Ford’s Lady Tigers bumped the Lady Indians from the tournament 60-56.
Northeast’s last win against Itawamba at Bonner Arnold Coliseum in Booneville also came in 2007 – January 8 – as the Lady Tigers dispatched the Lady Indians in similar fashion 86-68.
“We had tremendous effort and heart tonight,” Ford said. “I would put our heart and desire up against anyone tonight.”
Al’Lisha Hudson came out of the break on fire of the Lady Tigers scoring 11 points and pulling down six rebounds late in the contest as Northeast pushed its lead 23 late in the contest.
“Alicia (Hudson) has been carrying us all year long,” Ford said. “Amber did a steady job tonight. She did a great job defending (Bowens).”
Hudson helped key Northeast to the win thanks to a pair of second half runs and sophomore guard Rumae Butler split her 14 points on the night evenly in the halves – seven apiece.
“They beat us bad down there (84-48) and are our rivals. We just wanted to beat them,” Butler said. “It was probably the most exciting win we have had all year.”
“The one thing that we did tonight that we hadn’t been doing this year,” Ford said, “is we didn’t make a lot of turnovers.”
Following Birdie Bowen’s three-pointer cut the game to five (56-51), Northeast sealed the deal with a 9-0 run keyed by Ranisha Williams.
Williams put down an old-fashioned three-point play that gave Northeast a 10-point lead at 61-51 as three other Lady Tigers got in on the scoring act during the spurt.
A steal and bucket by Amber Johnson got the run going while makes by Miranda Phillips and Chelsey Whitaker continued to push the Lady Tigers.
Northeast pushed the game out to 23 (84-61) late as Whitaker made the second of a double-bonus situation.
On the men’s side, Itawamba earned the split with a 75-66 decision over David Robbin’s Tigers.
Itawamba (14-8, 6-4) held a 13-point lead (59-46) on Northeast with 8:22 left in the contest but the Tigers soon rallied behind point guard Tyler Pritchard.
Pritchard led the Tigers on a 12-2 run as Northeast pulled to within three with under four minutes remaining.
The Tishomingo County native started the run with back-to-back three-pointers and picked up four points from Emmanuel Ezejiofo and a bucket from Kayo Taylor during the spurt.
Northeast kept Itawamba within reach for the remainder of the contest reeling in the Indians and cutting the lead back down to three with 1:22 left when Pritchard stepped inside the three-point line and sunk an 18-footer for a 69-66 game.
Pritchard’s points would be the last for the Tigers as ICC ended the contest with six straight points including a tip in by Vincenzo Nelson on a missed Todd Nelson free throw with 46.5 seconds left.
Northeast returns to action on Monday as both Northeast squads travel to Coahoma for a pair of North Division contests.
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