Hanceville, Ala.,--Both the men and women's Northeast basketball teams fell to Wallace State-Hanceville on Thursday night on the road in Hanceville, Ala.
Coach Brian Alexander's squad dropped to the Lady Lions in the opener on a final of 87-82 to fall to 1-1 on the season.
The Lady Tigers were able to hold tough in the first half with both teams knotted at 37-all at the break. However, in the second frame free throws prove to be the difference for the Lady Lions who got to the foul line 26 times compared to just 18 for the Lady Tigers -- and outscored Northeast 50-45.
Top performers for Northeast were Kay K. Tate, who finished with a game high 25 points and four rebounds, along with Angelia Allen who added 14 points with seven boards.
Sophomore India Howard saw her first action of the season for Northeast -- after sitting out last week's season opener -- and added five points and one board for the Lady Tigers.
Leading the way for the Lady Lions was Ashley Nance, who had 22 points and 12 boards, while Morgan Pearson finished with 17 points helping Wallace State-Hanceville improve to 1-1 overall.
In the nightcap, Coach David Robbins and company got off to a slow start being outscored 41-24 in the opening frame. The Lions got to the foul line 15 times (11-of-15) in the first half while Northeast only attempted four shots from the charity stripe (0-for-4).
Northeast (1-1, 0-0) finished the game shooting only 11 percent from the foul line while the Lions shot 62 percent, and Northeast was also out rebounded 35-23 in their effort.
Romeo Johnson scored 12 points to lead Northeast with Markevious Brown adding nine points on the evening.
Jestin Lewis dropped in a game high 18 points for Wallace State-Hanceville (2-0), while Marcus Johnson scored 15 points to go along with four boards to lead the Lions to a 76-53 victory.
Northeast's men and women's basketball teams will travel to Ellisville on Monday, November 12 to take on Jones County Junior College. Tip time for the ladies is set for 5 p.m. with the men to follow.
Tiger fans can catch Monday night's action by tunning in to WNAU AM 1470 in New Albany. Fans can tune in to the live webcast by going to www.wnau1470.com in order to catch all the play-by-play action. A link will also be available at our new athletic website at www.nemccathletics.com.
Fans can also follow the Tiger basketball season on Twitter @ NEMCC_Athletics.