Lady Indians host North Platte Saturday
The McCook Community College Lady Indian basketball team returns to the court Saturday after a three-week holiday break. MCC (7-9) will host North Platte (3-11) at 2 p.m. for the start of the Region IX South schedule.
Saturday’s women’s/men’s doubleheader will be Blue Out Saturday at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center as well as “Community Hospital Recognition Day.” It’s one of four home doubleheaders in January with three more coming in February.
Despite a sub-.500 record, six of MCC’s nine losses came to teams either currently ranked in the NJCAA Top 25 polls, previously ranked or had received Top 25 votes.
“We were young at the point-guard position and young at the post to start our season but with the schedule we had, we’ve grown in experience and maturity-wise and developed over the first half of our season to the point I think we have a real shot to be in the top four in the Region IX South standings,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.
This is the first year North Platte and Southeast Community College will be playing in Division 1 of Region IX – moving up from Division II, because of the dissolution of the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference.
Pritchett expects those two teams to make the transition because they’ve always played competitive schedules but believes the extra “conference” games could make for a tougher travel schedule for some of the other teams in Region IX South.
“We’ll be playing 14 games in our region this year but the NCCAC schools always played that many spring games and we always placed importance on those games against the Division II schools so our mentality stays the same,” said Pritchett. “The difference is that the other five schools will be playing four more games in the spring that they have in past years.”
The Lady Indians posted the third-best non-conference record among the eight teams participating in the Region IX South this season. Western Nebraska finished the pre-holiday schedule with a 10-5 record, Lamar was 8-4. North Plate and Northeastern Junior College tied with 3-11 records, Trinidad State was 2-10, Southeast Community College was 2-11 and Otero College just 1-12.
“If you take care of business in the region, you can separate yourself in the standings,” said Pritchett. “I think it makes the region tougher and we’re excited for a new challenge this season. There won’t be an easy game on the schedule from here on out.”
At the regular season’s mid-point, the Lady Indians are scoring 59.1 points per game (fifth among the eight region teams) and allow 60.6 points per game (third in the south region). They shoot 38.6 percent from the floor and lead the eight Region IX South teams in 3-point shooting at 30.5 percent and 63 percent from the free-throw line.
Sophomore Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) leads the offense scoring 11.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and shoots 34.4 percent from the 3-point line – fourth best in region south. Johanna Gerlach (sophomore, Hachborn, Germany) is second in scoring at 8.2 points per game along with 3.2 rebounds.
Sophomore Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) scores 7.3 points per game, 3.4 boards and 3.2 assists and she leads the region in 3-point shooting connecting at a 41.7 percent rate. Freshman Mar Molina Munoz (Parets del Valles, Spain) averages 7.2 points, 3.9 points and 2.8 assists.
Sophomore forward Miriam Wahlqvist (Helsingborg, Sweden) started at the post position 14 times to start the season because of injuries but she finished the first half with 5.6 rebounds which was 10th most in the south region. She also averages 6.1 points and shoots 47.1 percent from the field.
Injuries limited freshman post Stephanie Nnabuihe (Newbridge, Ireland) to 10 games but she started one and for the season averages 6.2 points, 5.4 boards and shoots 45.5 percent from the field. Freshman Claudia Serrador Cortazar (Trapagaran, Spain) played in 13 games, started one and averages 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, shooting 54 percent from the field.
An injury also sidelined sophomore Peyton Cox (Wauneta-Palisade) until the final game of the semester. Last season she averaged 7.6 points and 6.0 rebounds. She continued to progress throughout the fall and finally played five minutes in the final game before the holiday break.
“We’ve been getting her back into basketball shape and getting her ready to go and look for her to be a bigger contributor as the season goes along,” said Pritchett.
Sophomore forward Brylyn Springer (Cambridge) also missed the fall semester with an injury has begun physical therapy and will continue to be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.
The Lady Indians will remain at home the second week of Region IX play hosting Otero College and Trinidad State Jan. 16 and 17. The Friday game on Jan. 16 against Otero tips off at 5:30 p.m. and will be “Retro Night,” MCC Boosters Banner Club night and the record-setting 2025 MCC softball team will be honored that night. Jan. 17 is “Tropical Night.”
“Our first three games out of break are region games and we have to take care of business and a big one right off the bat to take on North Platte,” said Pritchett.
Other themed nights on the schedule include Student Organization and Area High School Night Jan. 28 when the MCC teams host Western Nebraska at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Special promotions in February include: MCC Chili cook-Off and First Responders Night Wednesday, Feb. 4 (5:30 and 7:30 p.m.) against Lamar; “GROUTFIT NIGHT (Gray outfit night) Saturday, Feb. 7 against Southeast Community College (2 and 4 p.m.); and “Neon Night” and Sophomore Recognition Saturday Feb. 21 vs. Northeastern JC (2 and 4 p.m.)
“It’s crucial for us to get in the top four in the standings this year for post-season so we can host a tournament game in that first-round crossover round,” said Pritchett. “And I think we have an opportunity to do that.”
Up-to-date information about MCC women’s basketball including livestream links for home games, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com