LADY TIGERS, TIGERS SWEEP COLUMBIA STATE IN RARE SATURDAY TWINBILL

BOONEVILLE, Miss. -- Northeast Mississippi Community College men and women’s basketball teams were in action on Saturday, January 24, in Booneville, Mississippi where they faced the Columbia State from of Columbia, Tennessee.
 
The Lady Tigers went into Saturday's contest coming off a division win on the road against Coahoma and looked to continue their winning ways at Bonner Arnold Coliseum against the Lady Chargers. 

In first half action, Northeast shot only 14 percent from behind the arc (1-of-7), while Columbia State shot 33 percent on 5-of-15 from downtown but the Lady Tigers went into the locker room with a 40-33 lead.
 
Shefarrah Turner made sure the Lady Tigers kept the lead in the second half.  Turner shot 10-of-12 from the floor and pulled down 12 rebounds on the afternoon finishing with 25 points.  

Erika Wright pulled down 17 boards for the Lady Tigers and Northeast out rebounded Columbia State 60-35.

 "I think everybody played well together as a team and we just seemed to be perfect", said Turner. "I made a couple of mistakes but I was proud of the way I played overall".
 
Coach Ricky Ford's team improved to 7-9 overall and remains 2-3 in the North Division. 

The Tigers fell behind the Chargers early on in the game but was able to pull away from Columbia State around the 5:33 mark with seven unanswered points.   Northeast rallied for a 16-3 run after falling behind 13-6 on Columbia State's hot shooting.

John Sexton led the way for Northeast finishing the game with 23 points and hit on 4-of-5 from behind the arc and connected on 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.  "We came out real slow today but around the six or seven minute mark left in the game, Coach Robbins called a timeout and we kicked it into gear from that point on" said Sexton. 

When asked about his performance on the day Sexton said, "the points aren't important to me; as long as we get the win I am happy.”

Northeast was able to get the win shooting 31-of-58 (53-percent) from the floor and hitting on an impressive 21-of-28 (75-percent) from the free throw line to help seal the victory.
 
Another big statistic for the Tigers was the effort from the bench scoring 49 points off the bench while Columbia State's bench scored 35 points. In the end it was the final score that counted as the Tigers completed the sweep of the Chargers with an 87-77 victory. 

The Tigers improved to 9-9 overall and remain 1-4 in division play.
 
Both the Tigers and the Lady Tigers will be right back in action at Bonner Arnold Coliseum on Monday, January 26, where they will face the East Mississippi Lions. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. for the ladies and 8 p.m. for the men. 

###