SENATOBIA, Miss. — The No. 16 Pearl River women's basketball relied on a second-half surge to take down Northwest 50-35 on Monday in Howard Coliseum on Northwest's Senatobia campus.  

"Northwest is a very talented ball club, very well coached," PRCC head coach Scotty Fletcher said. "At the end of the day, we did a really good job of rebounding the basketball on both ends. 

"We made timely shots, and we answered their runs with stops of our own. Our DNA is always defense, I thought our effort was really good tonight. I thought we coud've executed a little better on the offensive end."

Pearl River (17-2 overall; 6-1 MACCC) jumped out a quick 9-2 lead over Northwest (8-9 Overall; 4-3 MACCC). Mikayla Riley (Tupelo) got the Wildcats on the board with a 3-pointer from the corner. Jazmine Jackson (Jacksonville, Fla.; Andrew Jackson) followed with a drive on the right side of the lane and hit a floater to put Pearl River up 5-0. Northwest closed the gap to four with a put back on a miss, 6-2. Riley extended the lead to seven after sinking three free throws following being fouled on a 3-point attempt, 9-2.  

Northwest chipped away and closed the gap to four at the end of the first quarter, 11-7. 

Northwest opened the second quarter and kept the pressure on the Wildcats. Following some Pearl River miscues, the Rangers closed the gap to one point early in the second quarter, 11-10.

Riley slowed the Ranger's momentum by taking a Sydney Lewis (Upper Marlboro, Md.; McClean School) pass at the elbow and drained a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 14-10 lead. Following a Ranger basket, Lewis stopped Northwest from building momentum with back-to-back baskets in the low post, giving The River an 18-12 lead. 

Taking a page from their first-half playbook, Northwest again chipped away at the Wildcat lead, bringing the score to one, 18-17. 

Jackson came up with a big 3-pointer to stop the Rangers run and extend PRCC's lead to four, 21-17. The Rangers hit a jumper to close out the first half, 21-19. 

The Wildcats found their rhythm to open the second half, scoring three quicks to extend the Wildcats lead to nine, 28-19. The run to open the half was highlighted by a Mattison Bell (Philadelphia, Miss.; Choctaw Central) 3-pointer from the right elbow.

The Wildcat defense kept the pressure on the Rangers and did not allow them to build any momentum. 

Both teams traded possessions throughout the third quarter with neither team being able to build any steam. The Wildcats took a seven-point lead into the final frame, 36-29.

Jackson came out strong to open the fourth quarter by pulling down an offensive rebound and laying the ball in for two, 38-29. Riley followed with a 3-pointer, 41-31, and Lewis had a good move under the basket to give the Wildcats a 10-point lead, 43-31.

Paris Gilmore (Youngstown, Ohio; Warrensville Heights) with a strong play on the defensive end by tipping the ball out of a Ranger's hand. Gilmore corralled the ball and drove the length of the court for a layup, 50-35, to close out the scoring. 

"I thought Paris was electric with the ball in her hands tonight," Fletcher said. "She did a good job of switching the tempo; she got points in transition. She was an extension of the coach tonight; that is what we need with the point guard position."

BY THE NUMBERS
Jackson had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Lewis had another strong outing with nine rebounds and eight points. Riley finished with a game-high 14 points. 

NEXT UP
The Wildcats return home to Marvin R. White Coliseum to host Southwest on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. 

TUNE IN
All home Pearl River basketball games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/Gold. Fans with Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.

Games will also be available over the air in Pearl River County by tuning into 1320-AM and 106.9 FM. The radio broadcast is also available at WRJWRadio.com and by downloading the WRJW app.

For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on X (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).