Lady Rangers move to brink of postseason berth

The Ranger College women's basketball team knew they would have to play 40 minutes of hard-nosed basketball on Saturday afternoon against cross-county rival Cisco College if they wanted to have a chance at a spot in the upcoming Region V Women's Basketball Championships.

Cisco made sure they played hard every second … literally.

Ranger's Kylah Mize buried the back end of a two-shot free throw opportunity with nine seconds to go in regulation and then, moments later, the RC defense managed to harass the Lady Wranglers' Keviona Barber just enough so that her buzzer-beating game-winning attempt went a bit wide and gave the Ranger women a stunning 66-65 come-from-behind victory in front of a large crowd in the Ron Butler Gymnasium.

With the victory, the Lady Rangers improved to 20-9 for the season. More important than reaching the 20-win plateau, the victory vaulted Ranger to 9-6 mark in Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference play and into the driver's seat in the chase for a postseason berth. RC heads into Wednesday's regular-season finale against Grayson College tied with Weatherford College for third in the conference standings.

For Ranger, the fight for the postseason began midway through the fourth quarter.

With Cisco holding a 57-53 lead, Mize provided the spark the Lady Rangers had been seeking. The sophomore pulled up from the right wing and drained a clutch trey that handed the Lady Rangers their first lead of the contest, at 57-56.

Shan'Qaylia Stanton added to the electricity in the Butler Gym just 42 seconds later by driving in for a layup.

The Lady Wranglers, who had entered the game as one of three teams hoping to clinch a postseason berth, fought its way back moments later. Alexis Jones, a sophomore guard from Dallas, reeled off a shot with just under three minutes left in regulation to cut the Lady Rangers' lead to one.

Mize rescued RC again from there. She pushed in a hook shot from within the paint just moments after Jones' shot to give Ranger a bit of cushion. Mize's bucket was part of a 10-point outburst by the Gainesville, Georgia, standout in the final 10 minutes of the affair.

Mize finished the game with 18 points.

Cisco didn't go down quietly. The Lady Wranglers rallied back to take a 65-63 with less than a minute to play on a pair of free throws by Jones.

Stanton breathed new life into the RC hopes less than 45 seconds later. With less than 15 seconds left in the game, the speedy guard powered her way inside from the left wing and pushed home a shot that tied the game at 65-65. With just 14 seconds on the scoreboard, the threat over overtime loomed.

Fortunately for RC, Cisco was whistled for a defensive foul with nine-tenths of a second left in the affair. That foul sent Mize to the free throw line for a pair of shots. Her second shot found its way home and gave Ranger a one-point lead.

Cisco, after a timeout had advanced the ball to midcourt, inbounded the ball to Barber for a last-second attempt.

The Lady Wranglers certainly didn't leave the Lady Rangers smiling in the first quarters of play. Sparked by 10 first-half points from Jones, Cisco outscored Ranger in each of the first two periods and took a 34-30 lead into the half.

Stanton and fellow sophomore Ruby Angok powered RC's offensive efforts in the first half by scoring six points apiece.

Ranger began its comeback in the third. Stanton, who finished with a team-high 21 points, Mize and Jaylan Gulley all poured in points in the initial 10 minutes of the second half and powered Ranger to a 16-15 run.

Ranger went into the fourth quarter trailing 49-46.

Ranger will close out its regular season on Wednesday against Grayson College.