CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team completed a regular-season sweep of Gulf South Conference and in-state foe, Delta State University, as the Choctaws (13-13, 12-11 GSC) rallied to win 56-55 inside of A.E. Wood Coliseum.
 
Three MC players scored in double figures, but no bucket proved as large as Keller Bigham's jumper in the paint with two seconds remaining in the game. The Warren, Ark., native scored the final of her 10 points and gave the Blue and Gold its only lead of the game. The sophomore led the squad in rebounds with a season-high eight rebounds.
 
Amelia Bell paced the squad wiith 13 points while Karly Ivy added 12. It marked the 16th contest in double figures for Ivy this season, which tops the team, and her 22nd of her two-year career. Bell collected her 12th and career 26th. The O'Fallon, Ill., redshirt sophomore finished with six points to go along with her 13-point effort.
 
Bigham's jumper helped erase a 19-point deficit and hand the program its first sweep of the visitors from the Mississippi Delta since the 2020-21 campaign.
 
MC trailed by 12 points at the conclusion of the third quarter, but began to chip away at the deficit early in the final stanza as it lowered the lead to single digits 5:50 left to play. Nia Coleman drew the margin to within three points with a jumper in the paint with under three minutes left. DSU answered with an AJ McCandlis 3-pointer nearly a minute later. She finished the game with a team-best 11 points.
 
Bell drew the deficit back to three points as she scored on a layup with 1:40 left and completed the old-fashion, 3-point play, converting the free throw to narrow the score to 55-52. The Land of Lincoln native lessened the lead with two free throws with 41 ticks remaining.
 
The Lady Statesmen, who opened the contest leading 19-5 after the first quarter, looked to ice the contest with a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left in the game, but Bigham grabbed the rebound and set up the drama for the next nine seconds.
 
MC shot a season-high 51.1 percent from the field, including a 50.0 clip from behind the arc – the third highest percentage this season. DSU finished the game shooting 41.3 percent from the floor and was 7-for-16 from the 3-point line for 43.8 percent.

The afternoon began with Mississippi College welcoming women's basketball alumni back to campus, culminating with recognizing the 1973-74 AIAW National Champion Runner-Ups at halftime of the game.
 
Mississippi College returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 28 as closes out the regular season in Carrollton, Ga. Tip-off against the University of West Georgia is slated for 4:30 p.m.