Lady Indians roll in fourth quarter to top Laramie County CC

Madara Liepniece scores two of her game-high 25 points Friday against Laramie County Community College.

The McCook Community College women’s basketball team came back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit Friday and rolled early in the fourth quarter to turn back Laramie County Community College at home 67-62.

“We really gutted it out,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “We could have folded when Laramie made a run, and I was proud of them for being aggressive and not backing down and getting stops.”

Both teams had a smooth start offensively to the game with the Golden Eagles hitting a pair of 3-pointers and MCC’s offensive getting a hot start as the game was tied 8-8 just 2:20 into the game. The Lady Indians went up 17-15 at the first-quarter break but were outscored 15-11 in the second quarter to trail at the half 30-28

Laramie County went on a 10-2 run to start the third period and led 40-30 at the 6:23 mark.

“We had a nice start to the first quarter, had a little lag in the second and in the third but I like the resilience with this team,” said Pritchett. “We have some youth and a lot of things we need to continue working on.”

After getting down by 10 points, MCC picked it up on defense, in the transition game and on offense over a 2:26 period on the clock and executed an 11-0 run to take a 41-40 lead before the Golden Eagles scored six straight points and led 47-41 with 3:27 left in the third period. The Lady Indians got back on track over the final three minutes with a 6-2 run and tied the game 49-49 after three quarters.

It was all McCook to start the fourth quarter led by sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) who ignited the offense with a free-throw, a 3-pointer and an assist to sophomore transfer Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Miami-Dade, Asturias, Spain) and another 3-pointer to put MCC up 60-50 at the 6:52 mark.

The Lady Indians took a 66-50 lead with 4:57 left to play, then scored just one point the rest of the game, but held on to win by five points.

“We just have to a better killer instinct and a better mindset as far as putting teams away and as a young team, we’re making youthful mistakes,” said Pritchett.

MCC held Laramie County to 30.2 percent shooting in the game, with the Golden Eagles making eight of 32 shots from the 3-point line (25 percent) and went 18 of 26 from the line (69.2 percent).

“I thought we played a good defensive game holding them to low shooting percentages we just need to get better on the offensive end, which we will,” said Pritchett.

MCC shot 61.6 percent from the field in the second half and 49.0 percent for the game, made five of 15 3-pointers (33.3 percent) and shot 17 of 24 from the line (70.8 percent).

The Lady Indians dominated the boards 46-34. The Indians turned the ball over 25 times compared to 15 for LCCC.

Liepniece led MCC with 25 points, five assists and three steals. She went three-of-five from distance and made 10 of 12 free throws. The 5-7 point guard also led MCC in rebounding with 10.

“Madara stepped up shooting the ball and she’s been playing really well getting a double-double with rebounds and that’s something we’ve been talking about,” said Pritchett.

Fernandez had 10 points and eight rebounds while Natalie Harmata (redshirt sophomore, Sydney, Australia) scored 10 points on a four-of-six night from the field.

“A lot of players stepped up for us tonight,” said Pritchett. “It was a team win with a lot of players in a lot of areas doing their jobs.”

Freshman Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) scored eight points, freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta-Palisade) had eight rebounds and four points with Miriam Wahlqvist (freshman, Odakra, Sweden) grabbing five boards with three points.

“Peyton continues to shine even though she’s been in foul trouble she came in and rebounded strong for us,” said Pritchett, “and Natalie continues to get better as she works her way back from last season’s injury.”

Laramie County goes to 0-2 on the season after losing their home-opener last Friday to Air Force Prep 58-55.

MCC goes to 2-0 and is home again Saturday at 2 p.m. against Eastern Wyoming (0-3). The Lancers lost in overtime to North Platte Friday 62-58.

“Eastern Wyoming plays fast like Laramie but maybe a little more physical so it will be a challenge for us to continue executing and I improving on what we’ve been working on in practice.”

The Lady Indians round out its season-opening six-game homestand Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Seward County, Friday against Concordia JV at 7 p.m. and Nov. 19 against Hastings College JV at 6 p.m.

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