MCC Women upended by Concordia JV 65-51

This 3-pointer by MCC’s Marta Moya Perez in the third quarter put MCC up 39-25

The McCook Community College women’s basketball team were outscored 49-20 in the first and fourth quarters and fell Friday at home to the Concordia University Junior Varsity 65-51.

“We just can’t take teams lightly,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “We had a good win over a tough team Tuesday against Seward and then took this team lightly.”

The Bulldogs took charge of the game taking a 7-0 lead just one minute into the game.

“Concordia played really well and made timely shots and came out right away scoring on their first three possessions – and we had three straight turnovers and that set the tone for the whole night for us,” said Pritchett.

Concordia went up 17-5 and stretched the lead to 21-8 with just under two minutes left in the opening quarter. MCC responded with a 13-8 advantage in the second period and trailed at half 29-23.

The Lady Indians took its first lead of the game 30-29 at the 7:37 mark of the third quarter and reclaimed the lead again 36-35 lead with just over three minutes left in the third period on an offensive rebound and putback by Natalie Harmata (redshirt sophomore, Sydney, Australia). With just under two-minutes left in the quarter, a 3-pointer by sophomore Marta Moya Perez (Alboraya, Spain) put the Lady Indians up 39-35. MCC led 40-35 with a free throw then closed out the third quarter leading 41-37.

It was all Concordia in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs outscored MCC 28-10.

“We just looked lethargic and didn’t give 100 percent effort,” said Pritchett. “We need leadership within and need to execute.”

MCC shot 25 percent from the field for the game (20 percent in the first half) and committed 23 turnovers. The Lady Indians outrebounded Concordia 29-27.

Concordia shot 40.8 percent for the game, went 13 of 17 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 15 times.

Freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta) led MCC with 11 points on the night, including a nine-for-13 performance from the line and six rebounds. Perez scored 10 points while Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) scored nine points, snagged 10 rebounds and had five steals. Harmata had nine points and led MCC with 12 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end.

“Peyton came out and did a lot of good things for us, when she was in there,” said Pritchett.

MCC goes to 3-2 and concludes their six-game season-opening homestand Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Hastings College JV.

 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