Booneville, Miss. – Northeast Mississippi Community College's women's basketball team responded admirably to the challenge of their head coach on Thursday night.
The Lady Tigers fulfilled Brian Alexander's wishes of stepping their game up for a full 40 minutes and downed Wallace State (Ala.) Community College at Hanceville 61-56.
The loss inside Bonner Arnold Coliseum snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Lady Lions, who started the year in the top-20 of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) rankings.
"They answered the call and were ready to go," said Alexander. "The biggest thing that I'm proud of is these young ladies came in focused, went into the game and played with every ounce of what they had."
Northeast maintained its focus on defense and held one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country to a season-low 19.2 percent in that category. The Lady Lions are currently fifth nationwide in treys made (8.7) and attempted (26.3) per contest.
Wallace State-Hanceville (14-3) was also contained to its lowest point total of the 2013-14 campaign, well below its average of 75.9 an outing. The Lady Tigers forced 27 turnovers, a yearly high for the Lady Lions.
"I'm very pleased with that," Alexander said. "These girls take what we ask them to do and do it on the floor. Without any reservations, we know all good and perfect gifts are from God above and we thank Jesus for this win."
Three straight treys from the Northeast trio of Jasmine Allen, Kiki Gwyn and Teresa Mays capped a 12-0 run that helped the Lady Tigers take control of the matchup and lead 32-24 at the break.
Jaylan Snowden aided the Lady Lions in getting closer to Northeast in the second half. She scored seven points in a row over a span of two minutes to get Wallace State-Hanceville to within one possession.
Moments later, Kaneisha Mixon's layup cut the Lady Tigers' advantage to 46-45 with 5:17 remaining in the contest.
But Antionette Riddle and Aushiana Ivy made sure the Lady Lions would not retake the lead. The Tupelo natives combined to score the final 15 points for Northeast, which included a sound 13 of 14 mark at the free throw line.
Ivy played the last 5 minutes, 28 seconds with four fouls and finished with 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds.
"I had to go in and play like I didn't have any fouls and not worry about it," Ivy said. "We all were in the game and kept each other hyped."
For the second contest in a row, Riddle topped the Lady Tigers in scoring with 18. She was 10 of 12 from the charity stripe, pacing a team that shot a season-best 83.3 percent on its free shots.
The guard combination of Allen, Gwyn and Mays combined for 25 points. Gwyn, a Kossuth High School product, took three huge charges that wiped away scoring opportunities for the Lady Lions.
Snowden led Wallace State-Hanceville with 18 points while Morgan Smith added 10.
The Lady Tigers have one remaining non-conference matchup to compete in on Monday, January 13 when Jackson State (Tenn.) Community College visits Booneville.
(M) Wallace State-Hanceville 72, Northeast 60
Lee Moore caught fire in the second half for the Lions and finished with a season-high 28 points to carry his squad to its seventh straight triumph.
As in Tuesday's contest versus Jones County Junior College, the Tigers controlled the tempo out of the gate and all but stopped Wallace State-Hanceville in the opening quarter.
After a three-point make by Jestin Lewis with 17:44 showing on the clock, the Lions (14-4) were held scoreless for the next 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Northeast pressured Wallace State-Hanceville into three turnovers and a 0 for 10 mark from the floor in that stretch.
"The first half we were excellent," Tigers headman Cord Wright said. "We really guarded, defended and did everything we were supposed to."
A quick 7-0 spurt that included a nice put back off an offensive board by Al Azulphar helped catapult Northeast to a 24-18 advantage at the intermission.
The Tigers (3-10) pushed that lead to 29-18 with back-to-back baskets from Cannon Edwards and Azulphar, but the Lions turned on the jets from that point.
Wallace State-Hanceville tallied 13 of the next 15 points and took a 34-31 advantage after a Marcus Johnson make from beyond the arc.
The two teams exchanged the lead four times after that, but the Lions went ahead for good on a steal and layup from Moore with 6:53 to play.
Dimario Jackson notched 19 points to head Northeast's scoring effort for back-to-back outings. The freshman guard maintained his normal pose on free shots and was 8 of 12.
Jackson is currently third among athletes in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) in free throw percentage at 81.6.
Azulphar finished another solid outing in the post with 14 points, eight boards and three blocks. The freshman from Norwalk, Conn., is tops in the MACJC and 16th in the country in blocked shots with 44.
A former Petal High School star, Edwards found his comfort zone again and dropped in 13 points. It is the most that he has scored since recording 15 against Dyersburg State (Tenn.) Community College on November 21.
"I've been in the gym working a little bit," he said. "It's starting to pay off coming out of the Christmas break. I'm getting back into the groove."
The Tigers as a unit shot 47.5 percent on the evening, the second highest total of their campaign.
Johnson (19) and Lewis (11) also hit double figures for Wallace State-Hanceville.
Northeast has the next week off before resuming the MACJC North Division slate at defending NJCAA Region 23 champion East Mississippi Community College. Tipoff for that matchup is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Scooba.