Basketball Recap: Northwest Rankin Drops Highest Score of Season Against Pontotoc

Cougars

Team Score

12/27/24 vs Pontotoc	72
11/26/24 vs Madison Central	71
12/17/24 @ Petal	68
12/20/24 vs Meridian	57
11/12/24 @ Warren Central	57

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Northwest Rankin). They put the hurt on the Pontotoc Warriors with a sharp 72-49 win on Friday. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six matches by 20 points or more this season.

Northwest Rankin found their leader in sophomore Malia Mccelleis, who went 8 of 12 en route to 21 points along with six steals and five assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Lauren Howard, who posted 12 points.

Northwest Rankin was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 3 assists per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 6.6.

The victory (which was Northwest Rankin's third in a row) raised their record to 13-4. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.7 points per game. As for Pontotoc, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 9-3.

Northwest Rankin will head out to challenge Brandon at 6:00 p.m. on January 3, 2025. Brandon will roll in looking for their fourth straight win, something Northwest Rankin surely won't give up without a fight. As for Pontotoc, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 45-40 victory against Booker T. Washington on the 28th.