Cougars top Lady Indians in battle for first place

In a battle of the top two women’s teams in the Region IX South standings it was Western Nebraska that emerged with a 67-50 win over McCook Community College Tuesday in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

“That’s a really good Western Nebraska team,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “I think we’re pretty good defensively and they shot 53 percent from the field and 46 percent from the three.”

The Cougars take over the lead in the Region IX south standings at 3-0 and 16-5 overall, MCC drops to second at 3-1 at 13-9 overall.

Both teams started the game tentatively until the Cougars started hitting outside shots and led 11-2 over the first eight minutes of the game. MCC closed out the final two minutes on a 7-3 edge to make it a 14-9 Western lead at the quarter.

The Lady Indians did make a run midway through the second quarter with an offensive boost from the bench to go on an 8-0 run and close the game to 20-17 with 5:35 left in the half. Western Nebraska responded with a 17-7 run to end the half ahead 37-24.

The Cougars shot 58.3 percent in the first half and made nine of 17 shots from the 3-point line (52.9 percent) while MCC shot 35.7, went 0-for-four from distance and had nine first-half turnovers.

“We struggled tonight to execute offensively and it’s not just scoring the basketball – it’s about making the right reads,” said Pritchett. “We go away from the right reads and doing things individually and that’s our biggest issue and something we’ll have to fix in the next couple days.”

MCC shot 52.2 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 43.1 percent but just two-for-nine from the 3-point line with 22 turnovers.

“We just have to take care of the ball and be able to handle pressure,” said Pritchett. “We’re capable of a lot of things we just have to fix our mentality,” said Pritchett.

Sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) led MCC with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Miami-Dade, Asturias, Spain) scored nine points and freshman Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) had seven.

Freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta) came off the bench to score 11 with five rebounds and freshman Jacelyn Jorgensen (Paxton) sparked MCC on the glass in the second half.

“I thought Jacelyn came in and did a great job for us in the second half, I think she had four rebounds in a short amount of time and Payton came in and had another stellar game for us off the bench,” said Pritchett.

On Friday the Lady Indians travel to Sterling, Colo. for a Region IX south game against Northeastern Junior College, 3-19 overall and 0-3 in the standings.

“But that is always one of the toughest places to play in the region, so we have to watch some film, fix things quickly and be ready for a tough road game,” said Pritchett.

With just three home games remaining on the schedule, MCC won’t be in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center until Feb. 18 when they host NJC in a 5:30 p.m. game.

Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including livestream links, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com