BOONEVILLE, Miss. - Ella Mask has found her touch inside the historic home of the Northeast Mississippi Community College women's basketball team.
Mask shattered her previous career-high with 20 points in the Lady Tigers' 80-71 setback to Northwest Mississippi Community College on Thursday, January 13 at Bonner Arnold Coliseum.
She has now reached double figures in three straight games on the Booneville campus dating back to a pre-Christmas matchup with Lawson State (Ala.) Community College.
The Alcorn Central High School graduate was 7 of 11 from the floor with three long distance makes against the Lady Rangers. Mask added five rebounds, one assist and a block to her solid performance.
"Coach Mayes and coach Howard told me to shoot the ball and don't think about anything," Mask said. "I was confident. I put my trust in my shot and they went in."
Mask was one of four double figure scorers for the Lady Tigers (3-11, 1-4). Calysia Phillips added 14 points while Sanaa Finley and Brittney Oswalt followed with 11 points apiece.
Phillips has now reached double-digits in 12 of Northeast's 14 contests so far this season. Oswalt was one rebound shy of recording her second career double-double in a black-and-gold uniform.
The Lady Tigers led for a majority of the game thanks in part to a strong opening quarter. Northeast used a 12-2 run that was capped by a pair of free throws by Mask to build a 19-12 advantage.
Northwest cut its deficit to one point with less than 30 seconds to go in the second, but Finley was fouled on a put back attempt at the buzzer and made two free throws to lift the Lady Tigers ahead 37-34 at the break.
The lead shifted between the two rivals six times during the third period. Northeast eventually used a spurt of six straight points to hold a narrow 58-57 edge going into the fourth.
However, the Lady Rangers (9-5, 3-2) outscored the Lady Tigers 23-13 in the final quarter to escape with the win. Northeast shot 41.9 percent from the field and was plus-10 on the glass.
"I feel like we're right there," said Lady Tigers head coach Brenda Mayes. "We've just gotta clean up those little bitty things that we're doing that shouldn't be happening. If we can fix those then we're going to be all right."
Northeast returns to the road for a conference matchup with Southwest Mississippi Community College on Tuesday, January 18. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. inside the Southwest Basketball Center.