Lady Indians fall to Gillette in double-overtime

SCOTTSBLUFF – The McCook Community College women’s season came to an end Thursday with an overtime loss to Gillette College 69-68 in the opening round of the Region IX tournament.

“This is probably the hardest game to swallow of my coaching career,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “Our girls battled hard all game and I'm so proud of them. They did everything right and we couldn't get any calls in the fourth quarter and overtime.”

The Lady Indians dominated the Pronghorns in the first half and leading 35-15 at the half and extending the lead to 28 points in the third quarter but the Pronghorns outscored MCC 34-10 in the fourth quarter.

With the scored tied at 60-60 and 15.0 seconds left in the game, MCC in-bounded in their offensive court to sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) who got the ball back after two passes and drove the right-side lane and hit a jumper in the lane with 0.6 left.

“Madara makes a great play at the end of regulation to put us up by two points with 0.4 seconds left and they add an extra 0.2 to give them 0.6 seconds,” said Pritchett.

Gillette in-bounded the ball on their offensive court opposite their bench and found a driving Rochelle Afo-Manuma in the lane to hit the layup and send the game into overtime.

“Then the clock never starts on Gillette's inbound shot to tie the game,” said Pritchett.

Gillette scored the first basket in the extra five-minutes, but MCC freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta) hit three of four free throws over the next two minutes to pull within 66-65 with 1:51 left.

“Peyton was also great off the bench with her offensive rebounding and finishing around the rim,” said Pritchett.

Liepniece hit a step-back 3-pointer with 1:03 left to give MCC it’s only lead in overtime 68-66 but the Pronghorns got extra opportunities with offensive rebounds in the final minute tying the game on a basket with 28.5 second left. MCC lost the ball late in their next possession and committed a foul trying to get the ball back, sending Gillette to the line with 3.2 seconds left.

“Madara drives the ball, gets tripped and no foul is called, then Peyton gets a foul called going for the loose ball to put them on the line with three seconds to win the game,” said Prichett. 

Gillette’s Andrea Martin missed the first attempt but hit the second and MCC was unable to go the length of the court to get a final shot off.

“This is really tough way to end the season, they really competed so hard, and I'm extremely proud of all of them,” said Pritchett.

Despite a 10-day layoff, the Lady Indians blitzed Gillette early, outscoring the Pronghorns 22-4 first quarter.

Sophomore Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Asturias, Spain) sparked the Lady Indians with an opening bucket, later a 3-pointer and hit a jumper at the 5:32 to put MCC up 9-0.

“Irene had a great game,” said Pritchett. “In the first half she was everywhere for us. Rebounding, making shots, disturbing the ball for assists.”

Freshman Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) took over the baton late in the quarter with a 3-pointer at the 1:38 mark to give MCC an 18-4 lead. She hit a layup on the next MCC possession and closed out the quarter with a fast-break bucket in the final 15 seconds for the 22-4 lead.

“Jojo was great off the bench getting transition baskets for us, with several of them coming off great passes from Marta Moya Perez,” said Pritchett.

Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the second quarter until Cox put in an offensive rebound near the 8:00 mark to extend the lead to 20 points. Freshman Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) hit a 3-pointer at the 7:19 mark to give MCC a 42-17 lead and the Lady Indians led at the end of three quarters 52-28.

MCC held Gillette to 21.4 percent shooting in the first half on 28 shots; 37.5 percent in the second half and just three of nine in overtime.

The Lady Indins shot 41.4 percent in the first half on 29 shots; and 52.0 percent in the second half and one of two in overtime.

Gillette outrebounded MCC 54-46 including 30 on the offensive end. MCC committed 15 turnovers.

“Not taking anything away from Gillette – who I thought made plays in the second half –we gave up 30 offensive rebounds, and that was a key for us. We didn't complete.”

Gerlach led MCC with 19 points on a nine-for-13 shooting day. Fernandez Pavesio finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, and Liepniece with 12.

“This was an unbelievable season overall with such a young team,” said Pritchett. “I'm forever grateful to our four sophomores and the work they put in.”

Those sophomores include Fernandez Pavesio, Liepniece, Moya Perez and Natalie Harmata (Sydney, Australia).

The Pronghorns outscored MCC 7-6 in overtime and improve to 23-9 on the season and move on to the semi-finals to play the winner of the game between No. 1 Casper College and No. 5 Northeastern Junior College.

MCC finishes the season at 19-12

“This lass loss hurts a little more but I'm excited about our future with our returning freshmen,” said Pritchett.

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