Lady Indians win fourth straight; top SECC 55-51

The McCook Community College women won their fourth game in a row with a Sunday win at home over Southeast Community College 55-51.

With the win, the team improves to 13-8 on the season, 7-2 at home, and 4-0 atop the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference with a battle for first place in the region on the line Tuesday night at home against Western Nebraska.

The Lady Indians raced to a 21-10 first quarter lead, then the offense stalled when Southeast went to a zone defense.

“Early on we hit some threes and got excited and then shoot three or four more in a row and that let them get back into the game in the second quarter,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.

After MCC got up to an early lead in the second period, Southeast shut down the MCC offense cutting the halftime lead to 32-21.

“Southeast executed well and when they went in a zone, we got into a different mindset,” said Pritchett. “And that’s the whole purpose of going zone, to get you out of your game. That’s what they did, and we didn’t respond.”

Southeast held a 13-12 advantage in the third quarter and outscored MCC 17-11 in the final 10 minutes of the game.

“They played a great game, outscored us in the second half so we have to do a better job on the execution side of things,” said Pritchett. “I’m still proud of our team. It was a battle, and we didn’t get to the free-throw line because of their zone. We fouled, and a lot of little things wrong, but in the end we protected home court in a conference game.”

MCC closes out the home part of the NCCAC slate with two more Nebraska conference games and they are both on the road: Feb 4 at North Platte and Feb. 19 against these same Bobcats in Lincoln.

After shooting 46.2 percent in the first half and making six of 15 shots from the 3-point line, the Bobcat defense held MCC to 32 percent from the field and 30 percent from distance. From the line MCC made six of 10 free throws.

MCC outrebounded SECC 49-25 and turned the ball over 22 times.

Southeast shot 29.3 percent from the field, went seven-for 26 from the arc (26.9 percent) and made 10 of 13 free throws (76.9 percent).

The Bobcats fall to 9-12 on the year and 0-2 in the NCCAC.

Sophomore Natalie Harmata (Sydney, Australia) led MCC with 16 points.

“When we focus and cut and found the open gaps we play well and Nat came in and had a stellar game for us doing just that,” said Pritchett.

Freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta-Palisade HS) scored 10 points off the bench with seven boards. Freshman Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) scored nine points while sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) led the team with nine rebounds and five assists to go along with seven points.

The coach said his team’s shooting is what has made the difference in the four-game win streak – especially from the 3-point line.

On Tuesday MCC will return to the Region IX south conference where they are leading with a 3-0 mark and take on 2-0 Western Nebraska.

On Saturday the Cougars went on a 24-0 second-quarter run over Trinidad State at home on the way to a 98-56 win at home. Western Nebraska is 15-5 on the season.

“They are good and make shots,” said Pritchett. They have four girls shooting over 50 percent and averaging double figures and we’re going to have to guard better,” said Pritchett. “I think they’re one of the top two teams in the region right now, but we think we are too – if we execute and do what we’re supposed to.”

Tip-off Tuesday is set for 5:30 p.m. in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

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