Basketball Recap: Saturday's Victory Is Northwest Rankin's Eighth in Last Nine Outings

Malia Mccelleis

Steals

01/18/25 vs Brookhaven	6
01/17/25 vs Petal	3
01/10/25 @ Oak Grove	5
01/07/25 vs Pearl	4
01/03/25 @ Brandon	2
12/27/24 vs Pontotoc	6

If Brookhaven wanted to avenge their loss from the last time they played Northwest Rankin, they should've done a better job of containing Malia Mccelleis. The Northwest Rankin Cougars claimed a resounding 65-26 win over the Brookhaven Panthers thanks in part to Mccelleis, who went 6 for 12 on her way to 16 points and six steals. She has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last six times she's played.

Another player making a difference was Hannah Jones, who posted eight points in addition to nine boards and three steals. She continues to improve, besting her previous point total in each of the last four games she's played.

Brookhaven's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Kema Roberts, who had nine points, and Sh'Nya Hill, who earned no points. Sariah Lewis also deserves some recognition as she posted her first assist of the season.

Northwest Rankin is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 18-5 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to assists: they averaged an imposing 9.54 assists in those games compared to only 9.54 in the others. As for Brookhaven, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 10-11.

Northwest Rankin has already played their next contest, a 42-38 victory against Brandon on the 21st. As for Brookhaven, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 56-40 win against Provine on the 23rd.