No. 5 Lady Pirates hold on for 64-59 win over MCC women
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Fifth ranked North Central Missouri overcame a fourth-quarter deficit and downed the McCook Community College women’s basketball team 64-59 Friday. This game was in the Iowa Western Community College Classic. NCMC is a Division 2 school.
MCC fought back from a six-point deficit with 6:30 left in the game and took a 53-52 lead with 2:45 remaining on a pair of free throws, but MCC went cold from the field and the free throw line and didn’t score again until 16 seconds left in the game.
Early fouls became an issue for sophomore guards Suzan Sisman (Aarhus, Denmark) and Gemma Gruettner Bacoul (Berlin, Germany) who spent much of the first half on the bench.
That allowed some playing time for freshmen Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia), Hanne Alvarez Verdaguer (Barcelona, Spain) and Carlota Aliaga Alonso (Valencia, Spain).
“After we got into foul trouble early, Madara came in and played really well and kept the game close in the first half,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.
No statistics or box score information was available at the time of this release.
“Coming out of halftime we were flat, and they made a big run to open the game up for them,” said Pritchett. “I thought we played tough at times and then other times made mistakes that really hurt our runs.”
The coach said on a positive note, some of his freshman are starting to figure things out.
“Hanne came in the second half and made some big plays,” said Pritchett. “She's been more aggressive like I've asked her to do and Carlota gave us some good minutes in the first half.”
The Lady Pirates improve to 5-0 on the season.
MCC, which picked up an extra win over the past week because of an early-season forfeit, now goes to 4-2. MCC was awarded a win by forfeit for the Nov. 3 home game against Eastern Wyoming because, the team had not filed their official roster prior to the game, which the Lancers had won 75-70. All statistics for the game will count and MCC will be awarded the win.
“Once we get everyone on the same page consistently, we'll be special,” Pritchett said. “But right now that is all talk and wishful thinking.”
On Saturday MCC will take on the hosts in Iowa Western CC, ranked No. 13. The D2 Reivers are 2-1 with the loss coming to North Central Missouri. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.
