NCCC sophomore Romeira Tucker, from Philadelphia, scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Saints in the Mountain Valley Collegiate Conference win.

Tucker scored five points in the home stretch to ensure the victory, including a pair of free throws that were the last points of the game. She also drained a 3-pointer from outside to put the Saints up by five in the closing minutes.

Tucker had 11 chances at the free throw line during the game, and sank 10 of those shots.

“I have a team around me that’s not just helping me on defense, but on offense too,” Tucker said after the game. “So I can be myself instead of just trying to score and win by myself. I have a team that can help me.

NCCC sophomore Sydney Craig drives to hoop Friday night during the first half of the Saints’ home win over Tompkins Cortland. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

“I had six or seven assists too, and they finished them.”

Saints sophomore Brooke Howell, who had 10 points in the game, was key under the basket throughout, coming up with rebounds and blocks that helped keep the Saints in the game.

NCCC freshman Aaliyah McCrae played well at point guard, and contributed three points on the night. McCrae and Tucker combined on a fast break to start the second quarter, and followed that up with another one-two combo just a few seconds later.

The Saints started to pull away during the second period, building up an eight-point advantage midway through the quarter. TCCC’s Victoria Mattarell and Tatiana Minnick took turns bringing the ball up the court, but the Panthers had trouble finding the hoop.

The Saints played inspired ball through the second quarter. On one play, Tucker dished the ball to Sydney Craig, who fed it back to Tucker who sent it down low to Cardrica Theoc for an easy two points. Craig had 18 points on the night, while Theoc contributed three.

NCCC freshman Donte Crumpler powers to the basket during Friday night’s game against Tompkins Cortland. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

The Saints were up 31-22 at halftime.

The Panthers came out in the second half with renewed vigor, and even though the Saints managed to maintain a 10-point or so lead through the quarter, NCCC struggled to remain composed, and started to get into foul trouble.

Just a minute into fourth quarter action, TCCC’s Anasah DeMember drained a 3-pointer from the left side to bring the Panthers within three. About a minute later, TCCC’s Brianna Lawrence fed the ball to Jessica Cafferty for a layup that put the Panthers on top, 50-49. Cafferty and DeMember each had 14 on the night.

The two teams traded the lead for a few minutes, but Tucker kept getting sent to the line, which allowed the Saints to hold the lead.

North Country takes on Broome Community College today at 1 p.m. at the Sparks Athletic Complex at NCCC.

“It was a very good win for us. They’re a very good team in our region (and) I expect them to be a playoff team, so that’s a very good win for us,” NCCC coach Jerrad Dumont said. “I think we did a good job of mixing and matching, and we knocked down some shots tonight.

“We’ve had a lot of games on the road this year and we haven’t shot the ball particularly well on the road, so I think they came in thinking we weren’t a great shooting team. I knew we were, and I was just waiting for us to catch fire a little bit.”

“We’re young, we’re learning and we’re getting better,” TCCC coach David Stevenson said. “We battled, and that’s all you can ask for.”

The Saints improved to 6-3 overall on the season with the win. The Panthers are 3-2.

The NCCC men took on Tompkins Cortland in the second game of the evening, and won in overtime 101-90.

The North Country men are 6-2 overall this season.