Booneville, Miss. - A season full of firsts continued for Brenda Mayes and the Northeast Mississippi Community College women's basketball program on Monday, December 7.
Mayes collected her inaugural conference victory as head coach of the Lady Tigers with a 69-61 decision over Mississippi Delta Community College inside Bonner Arnold Coliseum.
"It was back-and-forth, but the best thing is the end results," said Mayes. "That was one of our goals for tonight. No matter what happened when the night was over we were going to be 1-1 in the division."
Northeast, which improved to 4-4 overall, benefitted from the outstanding play of Bridgejae Patterson. She used her tall 6'1" frame to gain an upper hand against the Lady Trojans, who as a squad averaged 5'7" in height.
The Prattville, Ala., native recorded her fourth double-double during her tenure with the Lady Tigers. Patterson had a career-high 24 points on 10 made field goals and 11 boards in the winning effort.
"I just took advantage of it and kept working," Patterson said. "If you want your points and rebounds, you've got to work and be aggressive. There's no other way."
A majority of Patterson's baskets were setup by beautiful passes from Tyler Shelley. She had eight assists, which was a career-high and also the second most of any Northeast athlete in a single game this year.
"I was just lucky that (Patterson) was there to get the passes," said Shelley. "We do drills like that in practice. That's just something we've been working on. My confidence is going up everyday."
Shelby Wilbanks and Patterson lifted the Lady Tigers ahead 10-3 early in the matchup with five makes combined between the two post players. Northeast extended its lead to 22-16 at the end of the first quarter following a Kasey Sparks layup.
The second period featured four lead changes. A three-pointer from McKinnon Skeen sparked a 9-0 run by Mississippi Delta that gave them a 25-24 advantage with 6:28 remaining before halftime.
The Lady Tigers bounced back with two consecutive buckets by V'lenchia Farmer to take a 30-25 lead. But an offensive rebound and putback from TaKyla Dukes allowed the Lady Trojans to cut their deficit to 39-38 at the break.
Another tight quarter after the intermission saw the contest reach a tie on four separate occasions. Lynesha McCurry's putback pushed Mississippi Delta in front by a score of 53-51.
But Northeast held the Lady Trojans to just eight total points in the fourth period. Mississippi Delta (1-8, 0-1) did not have a field goal in the last three minutes and 37 seconds of the game.
The Lady Tigers closed the matchup by scoring eight of the final 10 points between the two teams to secure the triumph. Patterson and Wilbanks united for six of those points while Northeast went two of four at the charity stripe as well.
Wilbanks recorded her eighth straight double-digit performance to start the campaign with 18 points. She was 8 of 19 from the floor and also had eight boards to her credit.
The Lady Tigers garnered a plus-18 rebound margin for the second outing in a row. Sophomore guard Christy Clark contributed to that cause by tying Patterson for a game-high 11 boards.
(M) Northeast 87, Mississippi Delta 68
The Tigers wrapped up the pre-Christmas break slate of Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) North Division games with an unblemished ledger.
It is the initial time for Northeast to be undefeated through two league contests in a decade. The Tigers defeated Coahoma Community College and Mississippi Delta on subsequent nights to begin the conference portion of its 2005-06 schedule.
"Tonight was a big, big game for us," Northeast headman Cord Wright said. "This is where we wanted to be and we're happy to be there, but we've got a lot of work to do during the second semester."
Desmin Harris gave the Tigers a desperately needed boost after the Trojans took their largest lead of the matchup at 18-11 with 10:21 showing on the clock following buckets from Tyquan Rule and Michael Sission.
Harris single handedly put Northeast ahead 20-18 with three successive shots from beyond the arc off assists from fellow guards Leroy Buchanan, Antonio Dodson and Kendarius Smith.
"I thought tonight he was the player of the game," said Wright. "We were kinda in slow motion and couldn't get much rolling offensively. He opened the floor up and set the tone in that first half."
Mississippi Delta (8-2, 0-1) did retake a 28-26 advantage on a Jaylen Ford three-pointer. But Harris knocked down another trey that gave the Tigers a lead that they did not relinquish.
Northeast jumped in front by as much as seven points prior to halftime after a Buchanan basket. Free throws from Mark Johnson and Sission brought the Trojans to within 39-35 as both teams went into the locker room.
Wesley Harris extended the Tigers' advantage to double figures with a long distance shot. Northeast continued to build its lead with a three-pointer by Kendall Stafford and a jumper from Davon Hayes.
Travon Harper was true from behind the arc to get Mississippi Delta's shortfall to just two possessions. The Trojans could not gain any more ground as the Tigers held them to only seven points in the final eight minutes and 20 seconds of the contest.
Northeast (6-3, 2-0) finished the matchup on a 13-1 run that was bolstered by its defense. The Tigers were seven of eight from the charity stripe in the stretch and also had a pair of field goals from Buchanan.
Wesley Harris was phenomenal once again for Northeast. The Callaway High School graduate accounted for a game-high 25 points and was particularly good at the free throw line with 11 makes in 12 chances.
"I'm do whatever I have to do to get the win," he said. "I work on different aspects of my game. Free throws win games just like layups. If you're not making them, it makes a big difference."
Desmin Harris had 16 points for his third double-figure outing this season. The Corinth product was six of eight from the entire floor and added three steals as well versus Mississippi Delta.
"I guess it's an early Christmas present," he said. "I like playing on teams that are deep. It helps me find my groove. Every night I come out, I feel like I can catch fire at any minute."
Raheem Sorrell rounded out the top scorers for the Tigers with 15 points and a team-best seven boards. Buchanan and Hayes barely missed double digits with nine and seven points, respectively.
Northeast returns to action on Thursday, December 10 for military appreciation night against East Central Community College in a doubleheader sponsored by The Peoples Bank of Ripley. Tipoff for the women's tilt is 5:30 p.m. with the men's affair at approximately 7:30 p.m. in the City of Hospitality.