It now comes to the Enon community, where it becomes concurrent MS 583 for a few miles, before breaking off at Bristers Store and crossing into Lawrence County.

It heads east as a two-lane highway through wooded areas to cross the newly completed (in 2010) one-mile-long (1.6 km) bridge over the Pearl River.

The highway continues east through wooded areas for a couple miles before coming to an end at an intersection with MS 13 in the community of Goss.

It heads north along a recently completed two-lane eastern bypass of the city, which is a little over a mile long, to an intersection with Sumrall Road, the former routing of MS 44 through downtown.

MS 44 now leaves Columbia and heads northeast through a mix of rural farmland and woodlands for several miles to cross into Lamar County.