Lady Indian defense leads MCC over Eastern Wyoming

TORRINGTON, Wyo. – Thanks to a strong defensive effort, the McCook Community College women brought home a second weekend win from Wyoming, topping Eastern Wyoming Saturday afternoon 62-40. The Lady Indians held the Lancers to their lowest offensive output of the season. 

“Today was a great defensive effort from this group,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “We put together four quarters off defensive effort and made shots when we needed to.”

MCC limited the Lancers to 21.8 percent shooting for the game, and only allowed more than 10 points once in any quarter. The Lady Indians held Eastern Wyoming to 10 points in the first and second periods and led at the half 31-20. The Lancers scored 13 points in the third period, but MCC held them to seven points in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Miami-Dade sophomore transfer Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Asturias, Spain) paced the Lady Indians on the offence with 24 points, four rebounds and four steals. She made nine of 14 field goal tries and all five of her free throws.

“Irene had a great game today, she just continues to improve within our system and finds ways to help us,” said Pritchett.

Sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) scored 19 points and led MCC with seven rebounds. Natalie Harmata (redshirt sophomore, Sydney, Australia) added six points.

“Madara shot the ball well from 3 and had big rebounds. If she rebounds like that, we can get into our offense early,” said Pritchett.

Freshman Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) went for-for-nine from the field and scored nine points. Freshman Jada Kemm (Henderson, Colo.) scored two points with two steals and a rebound.

“Johanna and Jada came off the bench and played really well,” said Pritchett. “Jojo gave us some good things on offense and Jada provided great things for us defensively.”

MCC shot 39.1 percent from the field and made seven of 17 shots from the 3-point line (41.2 percent while making all five of their free throws. The Lady Indians were outrebounded 29-23.

“It was a great team win and a solid weekend for us,” said Pritchett.

Eastern Wyoming falls to 7-7 on the season.

With wins on consecutive nights over Laramie County Community College and Eastern Wyoming, MCC improves to 9-3.

The Lady Indians will close out the first semester schedule next weekend with a pair of games in the Rustler/Mustang Classic at Riverton, Wyo. MCC will play Central Wyoming Friday and Western Wyoming Saturday.

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