Lady Indians win by 13 over No. 25 Snow College
HOBBS, N.M. – The McCook Community College women knocked off No. 25 Snow College Saturday 75-62 in the New Mexico Junior College Classic.
The Lady Indians came out with a 20-13 first quarter lead.
“We had another really good first quarter but followed it up with an even better second quarter,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.
MCC shot 50 percent from the field in the first quarter and made 64.3 percent of their shots in the second period to go up 44-25 at the half. The Lady Indians connected on nine of 14 shots in that second period, including three 3-poiners in six tries.
Sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) Made four of seven 3-pointers in the first half and finished the game with 15 points and a five of nine day from the 3-point line.
“Madara had a great first half and shot the ball from 3 well,” said Pritchett. “This was a complete game for her running our team, making plays, and keeping composure throughout.”
Both teams scored 13 points in the third period which ended with MCC leading 57-38.
The Badgers rallied to close the deficit to eight points, 63- 55, with 3:03 left to play in the game, but MCC was able to hit free throws down the stretch. The Lady Indians made 12 of 13 shots from the line in the fourth quarter.
“I felt from the beginning this group could score the basketball, and we finally saw that tonight,” said Pritchett. “We just have to build off of this game.”
Natalie Harmata (redshirt sophomore, Sydney, Australia) led MCC with 20 points which included a six-for-10 game from the field and eight-for-nine performance from the free-throw line (six-for-six in the fourth quarter).
“Nat came in and made some big baskets for us. Nothing special just made the right cuts and hit her free throws on fouls,” said Pritchett.
Freshman Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) was the third Lady Indian in double-figure scoring with 10 including a five-for-six showing from the line. Sophomore transfer Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Miami-Dade, Asturias, Spain) led MCC on the bords with seven, to go along with eight points and three steals.
Laia Izquierdo Altimira (freshman, Barcelona, Spain) scored seven points and sophomore Marta Moya Perez (Alboraya, Spain) had seven points off the bench. Freshman Miriam Wahlqvist (Odakra, Sweden) made all four of her free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with six points and four rebounds.
“Marta made big shots off the bench,” said Pritchett. “She's been shooting the ball better lately. And Miriam had four huge free throws down the stretch for us.”
MCC finished the game shooting 51.1 percent from the field, 42.1 percent on 19 shots taken from beyond the 3-point line and 21 of 23 from the free-throw line (92.3 percent).
Show College shot 41.0 percent from the field, 35 percent from the arc and 71.4 percent on seven free throw shots. The Badgers outrebounded MCC 28-26.
Snow College (Ephraim, Utah) goes to 7-2 on the season. The Badgers had been 6-0 against teams in Region IX with wins over No. 10 Casper College, Western Wyoming and two wins each over Northeastern Junior College and Central Wyoming.
MCC improves to 5-3. The Lady Indians will be home Tuesday against Central Community College, starting at 5:30 p.m. The Raiders come into the game 1-9 in the season with six-straight losses.
This will be MCC’s second game in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference. The Lady Indians are 1-0 in conference with a season-opening win over North Platte.
Tuesday’s game is part of women’s/men’s doubleheader and will be the Lady Indians’ final game in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center for 2024. They won’t play their next home game until Jan. 21 against Lamar.
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